


Shadows Of The Past

by TheCzechWriter



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Research, Revenge, Science Experiments, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:21:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29485944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCzechWriter/pseuds/TheCzechWriter
Summary: After her retirement from International Police, Anabel thought she finally found some peace and dealt with her traumatic past. However, shortly after she started to work as a Frontier Brain once again, she meets a mysterious Coordinator. Although she befriends him quickly, she soon finds out he already knows her, but the circumstances of their previous meeting were not good at all... What happened before Anabel was found on Alola's beach by Looker and Nanu?(Archive Warning: mature topics, criminality)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Beach In the Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, thank you for opening this story. Before you start reading, please spend a few moments on these notes.
> 
> First and most important - I am not a native speaker. I live in Czechia. That means, if you find some minor stylistic mistakes, bad word, wrong word order or anything like that, please forgive me. Although I learn English for 15 years, I am not a professional translator. Despite that, I am doing my best to build a good story.
> 
> About the story: This is a concept I planned to write for some time. I loved Pokemon since I was a kid and Anabel was one of my favored characters despite her very limited appearance in the anime. Don't ask me why, I don't know already. Sun/Moon series gave a new dimension to her character, making her way more mature and professional, and it basically forced me to plan to write this sooner or later. But I usually write thrillers, horrors and fantasies. So what happens when you merge a fanfiction with something like my novels? You are about to find out.
> 
> P.S. Sorry if my Pokemon battles are not very well written. This is the part I struggle with for obvious reasons. It's not an anime and it's not something I write normally. This story focuses on the background.

It was another nice morning on Hoenn Battle Frontier. The sun rose up only a few minutes ago and everywhere around her, Anabel could see drops of morning dew in the grass. The air was still a bit cold, but when she started to run, it didn’t bother her at all.

She took her usual course once again, which took her around 45 minutes in a mediocre pace. She had her lilac hair tied in a long ponytail and the end of it was hitting her back during every second step, waving back and forth.

She was doing her morning run every day since she returned to the Battle Frontier once she retired from the International Police. But even after that, she kept her habits from that time. It was only good for her to stay in good form.

She turned around a corner and headed towards a narrow dirt road just outside of the Frontier, when Spenser emerged in front of her just if like he rose out of the ground.

“Good morning,” he said, smiling at her.

“Morning, Spenser,” answered Anabel, running past him without even slowing down. In a blink of an eye, she was out of the Frontier complex and ran under the first trees. She could see many wild Pokemon, especially Bug types, hanging on the trees. Normally, they would hide from her, but since she was running through here regularly, they were not scared anymore.

Anabel still kept the same speed, even though she was already starting to breathe a little faster. In last two weeks, she started to push her times on this course lower than before, but she wasn’t yet able to return to her former pace. And the pain returned from time to time as well.

Two bullets in the thigh are not that easy to overcome.

The beach part was next. Running in the sand was the hardest part of her training. The sand was slipping under feet and she needed a lot of strength to maintain her pace. It meant the pain from the injuries was returning more often and was also much stronger. Sometimes it even forced her to stop and wait for the pain to fade. Yet she never skipped this part. She was simply used to pushing herself way beyond the safe limit.

She turned onto the beach and immediately felt a salty tint in the air. She inhaled deeply a few times to enjoy it and let a little breeze dally with her hair. But when she stepped on the sand, it started to get tough again. She was running faster than ever today so far, so the injured leg was already on the limit. Once the foot lost any firm grip, the pain began to resonate through her lower body. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to continue, but with each step it was more and more unbearable.

Focused on continuing, she overlooked a sharp rock protruding from the sand just in front of her. She stepped directly on it and lost balance in a split of a second and the injured leg didn’t hold the weight unexpectedly put on it. Anabel managed to put hands in front just before she fell, but despite that she hit the sand hard with a painful cry.

She struggled to get up on all four and then on the knees, still shaken from the hit.

 _“That’s just great,”_ she mumbled angrily, looking at her reddened palms with many grains of sand glued to them. Her legs were now also aching hard, especially the injured one. She knew she can’t even get up now, the leg wouldn’t hold her weight in this state.

Unexpectedly she heard quick steps behind her.

“That was quite a fall. Are you okay?”

Anabel turned around. A young man in a light-blue and black tracksuit was standing behind her, a little crouched with hands on the knees. He looked like another morning runner. His face was hidden in the dark as he had the sun directly behind his back now, throwing a heavy shadow on Anabel.

“I will be,” she said.

The man offered her his hand. “I hope so. Come on, get up.”

Anabel shook her head. “Let me sit for a while. I don’t trust my legs after this.”

He looked a little surprised, but then nodded.

“You should continue your run,” said Anabel.

This time, the man shook head. “If you don’t trust your legs, there is surely something more behind it. You might need some help after all. Do you mind if I stay?”

Anabel smiled a little. “I guess it can’t get worse if you stay.”

He sat next to her into the sand and Anabel now could see his face properly for the first time. He was young, around her age, but the face was making him look a little older than he probably was. Long and narrow chin, protruding cheekbones and little sunken dark green eyes. He had longer dark-brown hair and wore a black headband. His face was a little sweaty and confirmed what Anabel already guessed from his clothing – he was also a runner. And she now also noticed six Pokeballs on his waist. So he was a trainer too.

He was now looking at the rock Anabel stepped on. “Have you overlooked that?” he asked.

Anabel nodded. “I was focusing on my leg. I wasn’t looking where I am running to.”

The man nodded slightly. “Well, at least it looks like it ended well. You scared me a little.”

“Did I?”

“I heard that cry all the way back,” he answered, pointing further down the beach.

“I am sorry,” said Anabel.

“No need to be,” he answered.

Suddenly, his eyes widened a little as he was looking on her leg now.

“You’re bleeding.”

Anabel froze and looked on her thigh. A red stain was already forming on the cloth. No wonder it pained that much. She must have fallen really badly this time, that badly that her old wound somehow opened.

The man stood up. “You need to get somewhere to get that treated.”

“That’s just a scratch,” said Anabel.

“Even if you are right, it’s not a small one. Is there a nurse somewhere close?”

“On the Battle Frontier,” answered Anabel.

“Fine, we’re going there. Can you stand up?”

Anabel nodded and got up, but once she stood on the injured leg, she shrieked in pain and wobbled and the man just barely caught her before she fell again.

“That’s just a scratch, huh?” he said with a pinch of scathing tone. “Grab me.”

Anabel just sighed and grabbed his neck. She knew he was right. Alone she would barely get back. If only she never had these damned wounds!

“Thank you.”

The man didn’t answer this time.

Slowly they made their way back from when Anabel came. Even though it was barely a mile, it took them almost half an hour, because Anabel was now able to walk only very slowly. Once they got back to the Frontier complex, they ran into Greta, who got frightened as well when she saw Anabel’s painful face. Together with the man, they finally got Anabel to Nurse Joy of the Battle Frontier. When the nurse started treating her, the man disappeared before Anabel could say anything to him.

As it was shown, Anabel was really lucky to run into him on that beach. Her old wound has re-opened due to that fall, but the reason of pain was different. As she fell, she pulled her calf muscle so much it almost tored. The nurse told her it happened because of long-time running in difficult terrain and her fast pace that day. The fall was just the last drop.

“You were lucky it ended just like that,” said the nurse. “But you should definitely forget about running for several weeks.”

Anabel nodded slowly. She was prepared for something like that. It hurt both physically and mentally, but injuries were part of her former job. She had far worse than this.

But even though she couldn’t run now, she knew she must return to the beach the next day.

She needed to wake up much earlier than normally to get on the beach the same time as the day before. When she went out of her house, it was still dark.

She finally got on the beach with the first rays of the morning sun and easily found the same spot she was sitting on yesterday. Drops of her blood were still visible on the sand, because it was far from the sea line and yesterday was not very windy. They were now dark, almost brown.

She sat down and waited patiently, listening to the sound of waves shattering on the sand.

She didn’t know if the man will come here again, but she secretly hope that he is a regular runner. When he was helping her all the way back yesterday, he looked in a good form, so it was a good chance that she will run into him here if he takes the same course as before. If not today, maybe she will be luckier some other time.

However, it took barely fifteen minutes when a silhouette of a lonely runner emerged from the rising sun. Anabel didn’t even need to call at him, because he already noticed her.

“Good morning,” he said, panting a little. “I see it was not that severe if you are here already.”

“You’re wrong,” said Anabel. “I almost tore a muscle. Without you running by, I don’t know how I’d get back.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “Then why are you here again?”

“To thank you properly of course. You didn’t give me any chance yesterday.”

The man shook his head with a laugh this time. “Let me guess. You probably walked here as long as we needed to get back yesterday when you should have stayed home and rest. And you did that just to thank me for doing what anyone who would run past you should do.”

Anabel laughed too. “That’s basically what I did. And secondly, I didn’t introduce myself yesterday. I am Anabel, Frontier Brain from the Battle Tower.”

“I am Matthew. I was a Pokemon Coordinator.”

“Pokemon Coordinator? Then you are the first one I met,” said Anabel.

“And I never met a Frontier Brain, so we are equal,” answered Matthew.

“Did you come here to challenge the Frontier?” asked Anabel.

“No, I just wanted to visit it. I don’t think I would stand a chance against any Frontier Brain.”

“That’s a shame. It would be interesting to face you. As a Coordinator you must have a unique battling style.”

“That might be true, for Coordinators, appeal of their Pokemon is just as important as power.”

“Appeal, you say? You mean looking well in battles?”

“Well, partially. It’s important to battle effectively, using your surroundings and your opponent’s attacks or using your moves in an innovative way.”

Anabel shrugged. “That’s hard to imagine for me…”

Matthew took one of his Pokeballs in hand and stood up. “What about a demonstration? Primarina, come out!”

A beautiful, mermaid-like Pokemon emerged in a flash of light, leaving Anabel starring at it without a word. She never saw a Primarina before. In close, it was even more beautiful than she could imagine. She couldn’t say if Matthew’s Primarina is even more beautiful than a Milotic, but it was a close call.

“Primarina is my first Pokemon and my most trusted partner,” said Matthew. “Primarina, why don’t we show Anabel what we can do together?”

Primarina happily nodded and turned around in circle in front of Anabel, showing its beautiful body even more.

Matthew laughed. “It behaves like you were a judge.”

Primarina finished a full turn, waiting for its Trainer’s command.

“Use Sparkling Aria!”

Primarina formed a water sphere on the tip of its nose, sending it into the air. There, it popped in hundreds of little drops which were shining in the morning sun.

“Now use Psychic!”

Primarina’s eyes began to glow pink as it was trapping all drops in its gaze, forming a water chain from them and then bending them into different shapes. Yet every single drop could be visible by naked eye. Something like this required an advanced technique and great coordinatior between Pokemon and Trainer.

“Close this with Moonblast.”

Primarina fired Moonblast directly to the cloud of drops. It went right through, popping them all, making a drizzle falling on Matthew and Anabel. The Moonblast attack then exploded high in the sky with thousands of little sparks falling back down on Primarina, making its body shine even more. Both the mermaid Pokemon and Matthew ended their performance in a little polite bow.

“Thank you, Primarina, you were great,” said Matthew with a smile, petting his Pokemon a little.

“So what do you think?” he asked when he turned backed to Anabel.

“Just wow,” breathed Anabel. “I… I am almost lost for words; that was beautiful. Your Primarina is one of the most beautiful Pokemon I’ve seen.”

She looked into Primarina’s eyes now. Even after what happened to her, she still had her emphatic abilities. She was able to read in both people and Pokemon’s minds and hearts.

“And you two really care for each other,” she smiled. “Primarina is really happy to be with you.”

Matthew smiled too. “That feeling is mutual.”

“I have a small request, Matthew. Reconsider challenging the Frontier. I can already tell my colleagues will be thrilled to face you in battle. Your style is unlike anything we saw here.”

Matthew thought for a little while. “I am still not so sure about it,” he said. “But I will give you the answer soon, if I see you again.”

“You go running every morning, don’t you? Then we can meet here again.”

Matthew shook his head. “No. Think about your health at least for once. I will find you somewhere on the Frontier.”

Anabel nodded. “Fine, then. You can find me in the Battle Tower. I will be waiting for you there.”


	2. Thugs

_“Welcome to another match in the Battle Dome! Today we have yet another new challenger facing the magnificent Dome Ace Tucker!”_

The crowd in the stands went wild when Tucker emerged on the battlefield in a cloud of mist. That was pretty normal here as most of Tucker’s fans were teen girls who were idolizing him almost beyond imaginable. Tucker never forgot to fulfil this image.

Among a few people who didn’t went wild was a person standing on the very top, behind the last row of seats. She was leaning against a wall, watching the stage with somehow clouded gaze, lost in her own thoughts. Next to her stood another young woman with waist-long dark hair in a violet and black snake-resembling suit.

“And now, welcome today’s challenger! From the Snowpoint City in Sinnoh region, here comes Travis!”

“Looks like you were wrong, again,” said Lucy.

“You don’t need to tell me the obvious,” said Anabel. “I am starting to believe he is not on the Frontier at all.”

Almost a week passed already since Anabel met Matthew on the beach, but after their first talk about him challenging the Frontier, she didn’t hear about him anymore. He didn’t visit the Battle Tower or any other Frontier facility and no other Brain she asked saw him either. There were a lot of ordinary visitors or spectators on the Frontier these times, visiting especially Tucker’s matches, but not so many challengers. In all the facilities in total, only three challengers battled in last two weeks, so all Frontier Brains would hear about any new Trainer coming to battle here. But no-one could tell Anabel about Matthew. He simply disappeared from the Frontier.

“Why do you want to know about him so much?” said Lucy with a completely non-participating voice. “I wouldn’t care about that at all if I was in your shoes.”

Anabel looked at her. “I just thought it would be interesting for you to face him, that’s all.”

“Please, Anabel. You won’t fool me with that pep talk. Stop living in a dream and get him out of your head,” said Lucy, leaving already. “He helped you, but he’s not interested and that’s it. Why should you bother with him anymore?”

Anabel sighed a little and headed to the exit just as Tucker and Travis sent out their Pokemon for the upcoming double-battle for the Tactics Symbol. She was not especially interested in watching that battle. If Travis manages to beat Tucker, Lucy and Spenser, he will eventually face her.

And Lucy was probably right after all. She shouldn’t care that much if Matthew already left without a word to her or not. They didn’t even know each other except for the names.

She slowly headed back to the Battle Tower. Her leg still hurt a lot and she was limping slightly during each step. Even ice treatment and several different liniments didn’t help that much with that. According to the nurse the muscle wasn’t tore, but there might have been some minor ruptures which she simply didn’t notice. This might take a little longer than few weeks until she will be able to run again.

She walked past a group of people standing on an open grass field, where the spectators could hold their own Pokemon battles. Someone was already battling there, but Anabel didn’t care about that. She only made a small detour to not bother the Trainers, but she stopped when he heard some raised voice nearby, and very angry one.

“I challenged you and I am not used to being rejected! Get there and battle me!”

“Then get used to it ASAP,” answered someone much more calmly. “I am not interested in battling with you. Now clear off, if you please.”

“I don’t care if you are scared, I want a battle now!”

The shouter stood in front of a lonely-standing tree, angrily pointing towards the battlefield. He was young, but quite muscular, with almost baldly shaved head. He looked more like an escaped prisoner than a Pokemon Trainer.

Without a rush, the second person stood up. Anabel’s eyes widened, because even though he didn’t wear the tracksuit he had when they first met, she recognized his face.

“There you are,” she murmured.

Meanwhile, Matthew faced his challenger head on. And judging by his face, he was already annoyed as well.

“Didn’t I make myself clear?” he said with a hint of a dangerous tone. “I would beat you blindfolded, but I couldn’t care less about you jackass making fuss here about your so-called skills. I saw what you did to Pokemon of that kid you battled before. How do you even dare to call yourself a Trainer! Get lost or I will kick your ass without a battle.”

“What did you say?!” shouted the bald guy. “You’ll be the one getting kicked! Take that you sucker!”

He raised a fist to punch Matthew before any of the bystanders could stop him, but that wasn’t even needed. In the moment he punched, Matthew evaded far quicker than anyone could expect basing on his tall and slender figure and with a swift motion, he slapped the thug with a well-hearable whack. The Trainer flew a few steps aside and barely managed to stay on feet.

“That should be enough for you,” said Matthew, turning away from him.

“Yeah, as if!” he shouted, running straight at Matthew.

Matthew sighed a little and stepped to the side in the moment he would ram into him. Because of that, he failed to turn around in time and couldn’t do anything when Matthew put a palm on his back, sending him straight against the tree he was sitting under just a minute ago. The Trainer hit the trunk full speed and even though he covered his face, he took a pretty big hit.

“Should I call you a dentist?” said Matthew.

Several people around laughed, applauding him. However, it looked like Matthew doesn’t care about that as he turned around and left quickly before the other guy could try to punch him again.

Anabel rushed after him as quickly as she could, even though he was way faster. But she couldn’t help but notice he is also limping now, so slightly that it almost couldn’t be noticed, but his walk was not completely smooth.

He headed towards nearby viewpoint. It was completely empty now, because the visitors came here mostly during the morning and many of them were now observing the battle in the Battle Dome. He stopped there, looking on the horizon and some Flying-type Pokemon high in the sky. He didn’t turn around even when Anabel stepped on the raised platform, but when she was barely three steps behind him, he sharply turned around as he finally heard her steps. As he turned, he already raised fists to defend himself, but when he saw Anabel, he lowered them with a relieving laugh.

“Arceus bless me,” he said. “Don’t do me this, Anabel.”

Anabel smiled a little. “Sorry. I was trying to catch up with you sooner, but you didn’t saw me. Why didn’t you come to the Battle Tower yet? Where were you all the time?”

“Something important needed my attention first. I hope you can forgive me.”

“It’s okay,” said Anabel. “I am glad you didn’t just left without saying anything.”

“That’s not my style,” answered Matthew.

“I saw how you gave that guy a lesson,” said Anabel. “That was pretty impressive.”

Matthew shrugged. “That was nothing. I could probably crush him in a battle, but it would be a waste of time and a risk for my Pokemon. I already saw him battling today. Without someone else intervening, he would keep hurting some kid’s Sneasel even when the battle was already over.”

Anabel frowned. That’s disgusting.”

Matthew nodded and wanted to say something when they both heard some increasing shouting from the direction they came.

“What’s happening there?” he said looking down from the stairs.

They both saw group of men looking almost exactly like the guy Matthew slapped just a few minutes ago pouring onto the open space where some Trainers battled, interrupting the battles by sending their Pokemon.

“I don’t like this a bit,” said Matthew.

Several thugs already forced the shocked Trainers to battle their Pokemon, smacking their already tired Pokemon hard with powerful attacks.

“These damned bullies!” shouted Matthew angrily. Without losing another second, he rushed down from the stairs. Anabel followed him as quickly as she could in her condition.

“Just stop that already!” yelled one Trainer when his Jolteon was hit with yet another Stone Edge from thug’s Steelix.

“Stop crying, kiddo,” he laughed. “When you battle, you battle hard, that’s it! Go to your mommy if you don’t want me to see wrecking your pathetic Jolteon! Use Hyper Beam!”

“Somebody stopped that!” yelled several people around as Steelix began to charge its Hyper Beam.

“BLAST HIM!” shouted the thug.

A split of second before Steelix could launch the attack, a blinding light fell down from the sky and Steelix went down hard. Above it, a Salamence blitzed through the sky, landing in front of it.

“JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!”

The echo of Matthew’s voice ringed through the air, stopping almost every other battle raging around.

The thug looked at him furiously.

“Take care of your own things!”

“I am doing that! And right now I take care about kicking your ass! You dare to call yourself a Trainer?! Leave this kid be and get lost!”

The thug just laughed. “Hey guys, we have a hero here. Let’s give him a lesson!”

Four another thugs including the one Matthew hit before rushed next to him along with their Pokemon – Rhyhorn, Toxicroak, Garbodor and Gourgeist.

“Now you’re toast!” he grinned. “I will get back on you for what you did! Now bring that pathetic Salamence, we will do it a face lift!”

“I will take you all down if I need to!” said Matthew.

The thugs just laughed.

“Big mouth! What do you think you can do against us five alone?”

“He’s not alone!” said Anabel, who finally got on the battlefield in the very same moment. “Go, my friend!”

Alakazam emerged from her Pokeball, landing next to Matthew’s intimidating Salamence.

“You crossed the line!” she said. “You are not welcomed on the Battle Frontier!”

“Like you two weaklings could scare us,” said one of the thugs mockingly.

“Oh, you have plenty to be scared of!” said Matthew. “And you are going to understand that soon! Salamence, Flamethrower!”

Salamence fired so quickly that they had no time to react and hit Steelix with a super-effective Flamethrower, knocking it down.

That enraged the thugs in a split of a second and they launched a series of attacks.

“Garbodor, use Gunk Shot on that Salamence!”

“Toxicroak, Dark Pulse!”

“Gourgeist, Shadow Ball!”

All Pokemon immediately aimed their attacks, but Salamence dodged out of the way and the blasts negated each other.

“My turn!” said Anabel. “Alakazam, use Psychic on Gourgeist!”

Alakazam trapped Gourgeist in the middle air with a Psychic attack, preparing to slam it against the ground hard.

“No you don’t! Rhyhorn, Hyper Beam!”

Once Rhyhorn fired the Hyper Beam, Anabel wanted to order Alakazam to dodge with her telepathic ability, but Matthew reacted a bit faster, ordering Salamence to intercept the attack with another Flamethrower. Both attacks were negated and since Rhyhorn needed a while to recharge, Salamance aimed Dragon Tail on it but got repelled by Steelix’s Sandstorm which knocked both Salamence and Alakazam back.

However, Matthew remained completely calm. Now it was time to show his Coordinator skills.

“Feel this wind, Salamence! Rise and use Sky Attack!”

Salamence flew high into the sky to evade the first blast of Sandstorm and aimed the Sky Attack on Toxicroak. He managed to find the way through the wind and landed a direct hit on Toxicroak, emerging out still seemingly unaffected by the sand. As Anabel spotted her chance, Alakazam used the small opening in Sandstorm, aimed Psybeam through the hole on the very same spot and hit Toxicroak with a super-effective move which knocked it out.

In the moment thugs needed to collect themselves from the unexpected double attack, Matthew withdrew Salamence, switching it now for Metagross.

“You have Metagross too,” stated Anabel. “I must say I am a little surprised.”

Matthew smiled a little, but it was just for a glimpse of a second. “Less talking, more battling, Anabel.”

“I agree,” said Anabel as they ordered both of their Pokemon to dodge from the way of another series of attacks. They were quite lucky that these thugs weren’t trying to coordinate their efforts the same way they did. Anabel then once again trapped Gourgeist in Psychic and when the thug ordered it to use Shadow Ball against it, Matthew’s Metagross destroyed it with Flash Cannon. Alakazam then slammed Gourgeist against the ground and jumped from the way of another Hyper Beam, just as Metagross rolled through the still raging Sandstorm and hit Steelix with Hammer Arm, knocking the second Pokemon out cold.

Garbodor tried to hit Metagross with Double Edge, but as it was moving forward, Anabel’s Alakazam intercepted its way with a powerful Psybeam, followed by Focus Punch. Meanwhile Rhyhorn used Iron Head on Metagross, but before the attack could land, Metagross used Psychic as well, repelling the attack and sending Rhyhorn straight on Gourgeist. Both Pokemon crashed into each other and since Alakazam already knocked Garbodor out with another Psybeam, only these two were left.

“Shall we?” asked Anabel.

“You read my mind,” answered Matthew. “Metagross, use Psychic once again! Lift Gourgeist and Rhyhorn!”

Metagross lifted both Pokemon into the air as Alakazam landed a powerful Focus Punch on Rhyhorn, eliminating it from the fight as well.

“And here is the finale!” said Matthew. “Hyper Beam, let’s go!”

Metagross fired Hyper Beam at still trapped Gourgeist and the attack pierced through the Shadow Ball its trainer ordered it to use it, scoring a direct hit.

All five of thugs Pokemon were knocked out, and during the entire battle, they hit Anabel’s and Matthew’s Pokemons only with one Sandstorm.

Matthew returned Metagross to its Pokeball and stepped toward the defeated thugs, who were looking as if they were hit by a full-speed going train.

“Now get lost!”

“And if you ever come back, you will not get away with it so easily!” added Anabel.

“Let’s get out of here!” shouted one of the thugs.

They collected their fainted Pokemon and rushed away from the battlefield with a lot of curses and raised fists.

“Now that was fun,” said Matthew. “Is everyone okay?”

When people around him answered positively, he finally looked a little more relaxed. Before anyone could start thanking him, he left and returned back to the viewpoint. After a little while, Anabel again joined him there.

“You sure don’t care about exaggerate thanking,” she said when she saw him.

“Only if I don’t deserve it,” answered Matthew.

Anabel couldn’t help but giggle amusingly on that statement. “You must be joking. You just took down five thugs at once and made it look like a walk in a park.”

Matthew smiled. “Well, you helped me with that a lot. I think we were quite a good team.”

Anabel nodded. “I enjoyed battling with you.”

“If only the circumstances of our first-ever tag-team battle were better,” said Matthew with a little laugh. “But something tells me we haven’t met these guys for the last time.”

Anabel frowned. “So what? It will end the same.”

“Only if they will stick to Pokemon battles from now on,” said Matthew with a hint of concern in his voice. “These thugs can be dangerous. I’ve met some people of their sort before. They were criminals, and the fact these are not arrested yet doesn’t mean they are anything else.”

“Yes… I’ve heard a lot about these cases too,” said Anabel. “They did a lot of crimes. Pokemon poaching, stealing, kidnapping, probably even some murders.”

“I think they will some cause troubles soon, maybe here, maybe somewhere else.”

“You are probably right. But I think it will be here. They won’t forget today, so they will…”

“Surely try to get one back on us,” added Matthew.

Anabel nodded slowly. “Exactly my thoughts. Be careful from now on. I am not worried about myself or you in a Pokemon battle, but if they are armed… That could end horribly.”

“You should inform nearby police departments just in case,” said Matthew. “I will try to find something useful about them.”

Anabel gasped for breath when she heard that.

“You can’t really be thinking to do something that dangerous,” she said.

“I can take care of myself. And I have my Pokemon.”

“I won’t let you do that,” said Anabel. “Leave this to professionals. You are skilled, I don’t doubt that, but you are not an officer.”

Matthew looked at her slowly without answering. Anabel could almost feel his gaze piercing its way deep into her brain. It was like he had the same ability as her. But this feeling was different – somehow exhausting and uneased.

“So you say I should leave this to _you_?”

This simple question ringed in Anabel’s head time and time again. She felt like a giant bell inside her head started ringing all of a sudden.

“What… what do you mean?”

She tried to play her last defense. The last rope to prevent her from falling. But from the way Matthew was looking at her now, she already knew that is not going to help.

“Anabel, don’t try to play fools with me,” he said slowly. “I know who you are, or were. I know you are from International Police.”

Anabel looked away and lowered her gaze. She couldn’t bear it anymore. When she was looking into his face, she felt almost hypnotized by him.

“How?” she asked quietly. “How do you know?”

The tension in Matthew’s face disappeared a little as he exhaled and looked away as well.

“When the nurse treated you on the day we’ve met,” he answered, “I saw your wounds.”

Anabel raised her head and saw that Matthew was now looking on her injured leg. Something in his face was now different. He looked sad… and ashamed.

“These scars you hide from everyone, they are from bullets,” he continued. “And no-one except a criminal or an officer is having these unless they were somehow present in a middle of a shootout. I refuse to believe you were a criminal, so this was the only option left.”

“And you guessed only from that?” asked Anabel quietly.

A few moments of silence passed. When Anabel turned to look on Matthew again, she saw he was now looking straight on the ground. His hand clinched in fist was trembling slightly.

Then he sighed when he caught her gaze. “I would wish that. But there is more. Way more.”

“What more?” she asked.

“We’ve met in the past. But that meeting was not pleasant…”


	3. Revelation

_“We’ve met before, but that meeting was not pleasant…”_

Anabel quickly looked at Matthew. He was evading her gaze, looking stiffly on the ground.

“Tell me, do you remember how you have joined International Police in the first place?” he asked slowly.

She didn’t know that. Or rather, she knew only what other people told her. It was twelve years ago when they found her unconscious on one of Alola’s island, without her remembering anything except her name and some glimpses of her past as the Frontier Brain. Thanks to Officer Nanu who took care of her – despite all his grumpiness and reluctance – she eventually joined International Police after she recovered from whatever happened to her, and started to work with Looker. Only after all these years, she eventually learnt what her colleagues were hiding from her – she was a Faller – a person who somehow got sucked into the Ultra World and spent some time lost there. That damaged her distant and recent memories and also attracted Ultra Beasts who infiltrated human world to her.

It took her ten years to find out all this. After that, finally settling with her traumatic past, but also betrayed by people she trusted, she eventually left the IP after another injury during a shootout with a group of criminals, and returned to the Battle Frontier to resume her job as the Frontier Brain. The others were shocked seeing her coming back after such a long time, even more after they learnt what happened to her and how much she has changed during all these years. Even up to this day, she was still recovering the memories of her former life she returned to now.

But it looks like there was something more only one person she met after her wake-up in Alola knew.

And that one person was now sitting next to her.

When she finished telling her life story – after some breaks and voice a little cracked – a moment of silence fell.

“So this is everything you already know,” said Matthew. “But don’t you remember what happened before Officer Nanu and Looker found you on that beach, but _after_ you got out of the Ultra World?”

“There was more?” blurted out Anabel immediately.

Matthew nodded, but didn’t continue talking and sighed heavily.

“I can’t believe that I meet you here after all these years again, in this state and already settled with everything what you endured in Ultra World. I guess you deserve to know what happened next, but it’s… not a nice story.”

Anabel shivered a little, remembering about all bad things which already happened to her, but when she answered, her voice was serene and clean.

“Whatever it is, tell me.”

“Fine… The truth is, you didn’t get out of the Ultra World by a coincidence. A team of scientists researching the Ultra World tracked your signal through the dimensions, opened a wormhole and sent a team to rescue you from there. That was when the research of Ultra Beasts and their habitat was in diapers and nobody knew almost anything about Ultra Beasts… and even less about Fallers.

When they got you out from there, you remembered everything. Every single detail, Anabel. About yourself, your past, you were even able to describe every single Ultra Beast you met there. Where do you thing the UB Squad got their original data from? The information you gave them was crucial for the Ultra World research and development of Ultra Balls in later years – that eventually led to the events you already saw, just as the massive infiltration of Ultra Beasts in Alola.

But after these scientists learnt what you experienced there, their sense for research won against their common sense. They started to run various tests and experiments on you to learn everything possible about Fallers and that strange energy within them…”

“WHAT?!” shouted Anabel. “I was someone’s guinea pig?!”

“Yes…” whispered Matthew. Then he continued normally, but he was evading Anabel’s gaze, which was something between incredulous and furious. “I was there as well during that time – as a student chosen to assist on the Faller Project. I met you several times when they gave you a break from their tests. You… you rather don’t want to know how you looked or what they did to you. They were ready to sacrifice your life for some greater good. Many times when I walked past the testing room, I heard what was happening inside. I heard you screaming and crying. You begged them to stop that, but they never listened to you. These tests are the reason you didn't remember almost anything when Looker and Nanu found you. Because they went too far, damaged your memories and it couldn't be reversed...”

Matthew stopped talking and looked on Anabel, but he quickly turned away when he saw her face, enraged and disbelieving at the same time. Big tears were rolling down her cheeks, just as she was now remembering all the pain she went through.

Then she jumped out and in a blink of an eye, she punched Matthew in the face. Matthew didn’t even try to block or evade that hit. He fell down from the bench they were sitting on and a cloud of dust rose and he hit the ground.

“YOU KNEW ABOUT ALL THAT AND STILL LEFT ME THERE?!” screamed Anabel.

Matthew stood up slowly, backed off a few steps and wiped away the blood springing from his lower lip.

“I can’t even imagine how horrible that must’ve been,” he said quietly. “And I am truly sorry I didn’t stop it before it was too late…”

“DON’T MAKE ME LAUGH! YOU THINK ONE APOLOGY IS ENOUGH FOR LEAVING ME THERE TO DIE?!”

“No, I don’t.”

“And you are damn right!! And after all these years when I am finally over that, you come from who-knows-where to ruin my life once again?! You think you’ll get away with this?!”

Matthew raised his hands. “Anabel, I…”

“Be quiet!! Don’t dare to say anything more!”

Before Matthew could do anything, Anabel already threw her Metagross.

“Use Hyper Beam!”

The Steel-type Pokemon began to store power for its attack. Matthew paled and backed off towards the railings, but he had nowhere to go. And it was too late for him to intercept the attack with one of his Pokemon.

That blast will be the last thing he sees in his life.

But just a split of a second before Metagross could fire, it stopped and let the attack disappear.

Anabel was standing behind it and heavy tears were rolling down her face. There was no doubt she stopped her Pokemon from killing Matthew in the last possible moment.

“I won’t do that…” she said quietly. “I am not as cruel as you are. Even though I hate you…”

Her voice cracked and she looked away, closing her eyes tightly to blink away tears.

“I give you one hour to get lost,” she said. “And if I see you face ever again, I won’t hesitate to end you.”

Then without saying anything more, she returned Metagross and ran away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess this chapter was either finally what you expected from the story summary or something you didn't expect at all. I was editing it quite heavily, something I deleted for now is about to come in next chapters. I personally have no problems with describing the experiments Anabel went through in details later in the story, but I will put a warning before it so you can skip it if you want.
> 
> The point of this story is - don't you think this development is logical even with what we knew about Anabel from Sun/Moon games? I mean, someone just emerges from a paralel universe and no-one is even interested in what happened to her? Some scientists would surely be interested. If they find something either dangerous or helpful, they may just sacrifice one for the good of the many. That's the main ethical issue of any research - are you allowed to sacrifice your subject for a greater good?
> 
> Thank you for reading and see you soon again. Left kudos or comments if you want, I appreciate it.


	4. Tears And Scars

Anabel rushed into her room in Battle Tower and locked the door. She could barely see through tears still flowing from her eyes. She fell on the bed, buried her head into the pillow and continued crying.

_How could they do that to her?!_

Her Espeon jumped on the bed and crept up next to her head.

“Esp espeon…” it purred quietly, but Anabel couldn’t hear it at all through sobbing.

It took her nearly twenty minutes to collect herself enough to be even able to get up from the bed. A big wet stain was well-visible on the pillow and her eyes were all red and swollen.

Espeon jumped into her lap and she began fondling it gently, still fighting the urge to cry again.

She untied her long hair, running through them on the bare skin of the neck. There, she could feel a long, protruding scar. She never knew what the story behind that scar is, but according to Nanu and Looker, she already had that one when they found her, along with around ten more mainly on her back and arms. They looked like they were made by some sharp tool, a knife or a maybe a needle because some of them they were very thin, but she could never remember any detail about what could happen to her. People even suspected her of self-harming, although she never did anything like that as long as she could remember. Those scars somehow contained a big, shadow mystery about her past.

Until today…

She took off her jacket and undervest, standing in front of a mirror on the opposite wall in anything but a plain black bra now. Some of the scars on her upper body were still visible even without a close look. She always took them as a memento, hoping that one day she will recover all her lost memories. She knew they are not very pleasant if they left her in this state, but she could never even guess that reality is this cruel.

She ran over each of the scars with fingertips. Some of them almost intangible; several bigger were protruding out way more, creating a hard growth on her otherwise smooth skin.

_How could they hurt me willingly like that?  
_

A loud knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. She quickly put on the undervest and went to open the door.

Her battle referee, Maron, stood behind the door.

“Is everything okay?” he asked. “You ran in there without saying a thing.”

“Yes,” answered Anabel, trying to mask her trembling voice and reddened eyes as much as she could. “Can you find Scott and tell him I will be taking a break for some time?”

“You’re leaving? Why?”

Anabel tried to smile. She considered Maron a good friend, because he stayed in the Battle Tower all these years after the facility was closed when she disappeared, but when she finally returned, he was waiting here to resume his work as the judge.

“I learned something about myself today,” she said. “I need some time to cope with all that.”

Maron looked at her inquiringly, but didn’t say anything and left to do as she asked him. When he walked away, Anabel closed the door once again and packed a few necessary things into a small luggage.

“What do you think about a little trip?” she asked Espeon, who came closer and nuzzled against her leg.

She didn’t know where she wants to go, but she definitely needed some time for herself after what she learned today. Processing something like that could take years for a normal person, but she knew she doesn’t have years. Hopefully, this will help her… somehow.

When she left the tower and headed to a nearby dock, Scott, Spenser and even Brandon were waiting for her.

“What happened?” Brandon asked directly.

Anabel brushed away his question. She really didn’t want to talk about that, even with other Brains. “I just need some time for myself.”

“NOOOO!” said Brandon. That was his trademark and he used it so many times in different situations that Anabel wasn’t even afraid like anyone else would be on her place. However, she also knew that Brandon will now press the subject until he learns about what’s wrong with her.

“I won’t be shouting at you, but I agree with Brandon,” said Scott. “In the morning you were fine. Then you went somewhere and now you suddenly plan to leave without saying a word. What happened?”

Anabel evaded their gazes.

“It’s not something you should worry about,” she said after a while. “A ghost from my past has returned.”

“What ghost?” asked Scott.

“That man who helped me when I got injured,” said Anabel. “He knew me. But not as a friend…”

She unknowingly touched one of the scars on her arm.

Brandon, Scott and Spenser shared a worried look.

“What…?” said Spenser, but Anabel interrupted him.

“Don’t ask, please. I don’t want to even think about that… I… I need to get over it. Alone.”

“Okay,” said Scott. “But whenever you need us, we are ready to help.”

“Thanks.”

Anabel walked past them and went to board the boat that was almost ready to lift the anchor. As a Frontier Brain, she had a free ticket guaranteed anytime. It took less than five minutes when she was already leaving the Battle Frontier. Where? She didn’t know at all.

“That man… Do you think he has something to do with what happened to her?” said Spenser when they were all walking back towards their facilities.

“I think it’s a possibility,” agreed Brandon. “She really seemed traumatized by whatever she learned today.”

“It must’ve been something severe,” added Spenser. “Anabel is strong-willed; something ordinary wouldn’t affect her like that.”

“Whatever that is,” said Scott, “she wants to solve that alone.”

\---

Anabel stood on the ship’s main deck near the stern, looking at the sea. Even from this height, she could see many Water-types swimming near the boat. Above her head, many Wingulls and Pelippers were cruising, catching any glimpse of a warm air current to save energy.

Because majority of the people aboard were returning from the Battle Frontier, some of them already recognized her, but Anabel kept all the talks short. She wasn’t in a mood to talk to anyone.

Many people were walking past her, either leaving to rest in the cabins, heading to the dining room or just coming to look what’s nearby the boat. They were just passing by Pacifidlog City, a village located in the middle of the ocean, consisting completely of a floating platforms and bridges connecting them. Anytime the boat was nearby, people were amazed. They couldn't believe that locals can live like that. Many of them surely wished to visit the village, but this boat didn’t plan to stop there; its closest stop was Slateport City. However, they won’t arrive there until late in the evening.

Anabel slowly turned away from the railings and left the deck. There was a small cabin reserved for travelling Frontier Brains and she was palnning to get some rest before they will arrive to Slateport. These people talking everywhere around her didn’t help her at all with settling all her confused thoughts. She was returning back to today’s morning scene again and again.

When Matthew told her what they did to her – what he helped them to do to her – she was decided to kill him on the spot, no matter the consequences. But she controlled herself and spared his life in the end. But why? He was a complete stranger to her. And even worse, he allowed them to hurt her. Maybe he was doing some of these sick experiments himself, who knows? So why did she spare him? For that little help when they met again after all those years?

_I don’t know what I am doing anymore._

As she was walking through the corridors in the bottom deck, lost in thoughts, she bumped into someone. She looked up and apologized when she realized it, but then she froze on the spot.

Matthew was standing in front of her, clearly as surprised as she was.

A long moment of silence passed.

Anabel couldn’t overlook that Matthew still has a blooded stain on his chin. And he also clearly struggled to keep his composure.

Then he looked away and quickly walked past her.

“Wait.”

Matthew stopped and slowly turned back with a questioned look.

Some voice in Anabel’s head was now shouting as loud as a stereo.

_What am I doing? This man tried to kill me!_

_But now is my chance to learn the whole story. Maybe the only chance I have._

“Tell me the rest,” she demanded. “What was your role in what happened to me? What they did to me?”

“When I tried to do that, you refused to listen to me,” said Matthew. “You said you will end me if you ever see my face again. Here I am; so do it. I deserve nothing less from you.”

“Maybe I will do it. It depends on what you will tell me.”

“No. I won’t hurt you even more.”

Matthew turned around, but before he could leave, Anabel pushed herself in front of him and blocked his path.

“You are not going to walk away from me now,” she growled. “If we were destined to meet on this damned boat again after you ruined my life, I am going to make the most out of it. I want to decide if I should kill either you or your sick friends who made me a guinea pig.”

Matthew lowered his voice and leaned closer to her. His expression was now stiffened. Painful and angered at once.

“Do you really think you are the only one who’s life was ruined because of this _fucking_ project?!” he whispered. “I paid for it too. I paid for doing what I believed was right.”

“What was right?! How dare you comparing yourself to me!” shouted Anabel. “You can’t even imagine what I was forced to endure! You don’t have these scars to remind you about that every day and you didn’t lose everything you had! I did! And it was because of you as well!”

Matthew sighed. “Up to now, I agree with everything you said. But this is the part where you are terribly wrong. Actually, you are wrong in all three parts:

  1. I can imagine what you endured there, because I saw it.
  2. I lost everything I had, _only_ _because_ I saw it.
  3. I have something to remind me about that too - _because I saw too much_. Because I knew too much about what they did to you. And after I made my decision, this knowledge almost was my doom.”



As he was talking, he pulled up his sleeve. Numerous scars on his forearm flashed in an artificial light from the bulbs. But these weren’t like hers. Obviously they were much deeper and looked like they were reopened once they started to heal.

“This is the price I paid for being a part of the Faller Project. Not the only one, but the most visible by far."

He lowered his voice again.

"They wanted to get rid of me too.”

“Get rid of you? What for?!” asked Anabel. "You were a member of their team!"

"And that's the reason!" said Matthew angrily. "Don't you get it?! They were ready do everything to make sure nobody ever learns what was happening there! No matter the cost, that project must have remained secret! If anyone had found how they truly treated you, they would have spent rest of their lives in prison! That credo I told you about before - _sacrifice one for the good of many_ \- didn't apply only on you!"

Anabel backed off a little when Matthew's so far well-contained rage bursted out. "But why exactly did they wanted to get rid of _you_?"

Matthew shared a look with her. “Can’t you really guess even that? How do you think I am even able to look you in the eyes? Why do you think I was trying to stop you today and to explain everything?”

He slowly leaned against a wall, but he was still looking on Anabel.

“They marked me a traitor for freeing their subject from that hell. For getting you out of there alive.”


	5. Gruesome Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major description of violent scientific and medical experiments is about to come. A warning in the text of the chapter is marking the start of that part. Skip it if you feel uneased.

_“I got you out of there alive.”_

After that simple statement, it felt like something shattered Anabel’s conviction about that mysterious man once again. When they first met, she befriended him quickly. Way too quickly. Then he shattered it by admitting that he was partially responsible for what happened to her. But now, he is once again trying to persuade her that he was on her side in the end.

_But can I believe that after everything he told me?_

In the past, Anabel would probably trust him. But the years spent as a member of International Police taught her to be much more careful. She could read in people’s minds as easily as before, but she already knew some of them can mask their true intentions well.

“I don’t believe you,” she said. “Not after what you told me. You left me there in the beginning, how can I believe you’ve turned around all of the sudden?”

Matthew looked around to make sure they are still alone.

“That’s fine. I didn’t expect you to believe me after all. But accept at least this small advice – be careful. They are still trying to track you down even after all these years.”

“So why didn’t they succeed yet?” asked Anabel with a bit of a mocking tone. “Don’t tell me scientists are not able to track me in… how long was it, twelve, thirteen years?”

“That’s mainly thanks to the job we did,” said Matthew. “And also Nanu and Looker. You should thank them.”

Anabel raised her eyebrows. “Nanu and Looker?”

She knew both of them for all these years. They were the ones who found her on that beach in Alola. Despite his truly gruff and unsocial personality, Nanu took care of her for a long time before she joined International Police - and that was Looker’s credit. After all, it was only natural for her to start working with the man she trusted by far the most when she was forced to start living in something what was like a whole new world to her.

“Yes, Nanu and Looker. If you want to know more about what happened to you, ask them,” said Matthew. “They know everything about that incident. They just didn’t tell you yet.”

“Why would they hide this from me?” said Anabel.

“To keep you safe, that’s why. But now they agreed that you need to know about it.”

“So they knew it all the time,” stated Anabel. “I understand it, they are detectives. But how do you know about that?”

“Easily, Anabel. Because it was me, me and my friends, who trusted your safety to them,” said Matthew. “If you still don’t believe I am not the villain in this story, you should really ask them. Our ways might have been different and our friendship a bit rocky, but the goal we had was mutual. I got you out; they kept you safe where I couldn’t.”

He looked around again and because he saw someone coming near, he turned to Anabel for one last time.

“That’s all I will tell you, at least for now. It’s not safe to talk about these things in the middle of a boat corridor. You will find me in the cabin 0142, if you ever wanted to talk again before we make it to Slateport.”

He turned around the nearby corner and left, leaving Anabel standing there, once again completely confused by what she heard from him.

But she knew one thing for sure – she needs to call Looker right now. And luckily for her, there was a computer used for calls in her cabin.

Shortly after she finally made it to the cabin – and locked the door once again – she called Looker. He was changing the phones he was using constantly, but he always kept her informed how she can contact him, even though they stopped working together when Anabel retired.

After a long minute of waiting, Looker’s face showed on the screen. He was sitting inside a room, but Anabel couldn’t tell where it was except it wasn’t his office. He was probably working on another case by this time.

“Hello, Anabel,” he said. “I like to see you again. Where are you?”

“Hi, Looker. I am on a boat heading to Slateport, but I have something really urgent to ask you about.”

“Go ahead.”

Anabel inhaled deeply before she continued.

“What do you know about the Faller Project?”

Immediately after she asked that, Looker paled a little.

“So he reached you, didn’t he?” he asked after a while.

“Who?”

“Our friend Matthew. Are you both safe?”

Now it was Anabel who was surprised. “Wait, Looker. So he is really not one of these mad scientists who ran experiments on me?”

Looker almost panicked. “Arceus, no! You didn’t hurt him when he told you, did you?”

“I… I almost did.”

“Anabel, he is not your enemy,” said Looker. “He was always trying to protect you like Nanu and I did. And he paid the steepest price for it by far. Don’t judge him for whatever he might have done before; he almost died just to keep you safe.”

“But why did he come now? Why after all these years?”

Looker looked down. “That was on Nanu’s and mine request. You need to know what happened, because these scientists still want to find you. And they are probably closer to you each day now.”

Anabel gasped. “What? But how?”

“Matthew will explain it to you. But listen to me well now: you _must_ trust him despite how much he probably hurt you. You are now in bigger danger than ever since he entrusted your well-being to us two. We are doing whatever we can to stop it, but we are too far to protect you if something goes wrong. Matthew is the only one who is near you now and knows what might happen.”

Anabel looked away. “I… I don’t know if I can do it. I almost killed him when I learned who he is.”

Looker sighed. “I know how hard it is for you, but you must do that. Take care and keep us informed.”

The screen went dark as Looker ended the call.

Anabel kept sitting on the chair and looked on the desk.

She wanted answers, but instead of it, she had more questions than before.

Looked begged her to trust Matthew, but is she really strong enough to forgive him for what he has done? Or rather, what he hasn’t done?

\---

Later in the evening, Anabel stood in front of the cabin door with number 0142 drawn on the upper half. She slowly knocked on it two or three times and the door immediately opened.

“I was hoping you’ll come.”

He stepped aside and left the door open.

“Come in. I don’t want anyone to hear us.”

Anabel stepped inside a small cabin, still without saying a word. Matthew closed and locked the door and sat down on the chair.

“This might take a while. You should sit as well,” he said, pointing on the simple bed standing by the opposite wall.

A moment of silence followed as Anabel sat down, looking on Matthew.

“I know you came here for answers,” he said. “Go ahead and ask whatever you want. I will answer all your questions.”

Anabel folded her arms.

“First, what was your role in that project?”

“I already told you I was only an assistant,” answered Matthew. “When the project started, I was a medical student. Because of my teacher’s connections and my grades, I was chosen to assist on the Faller Project. They never told me what the real purpose was. My job was only to store data from experiments and sort them out. They were telling me that these data are collected from various experimental Pokemon battles. I should never have known that they run these experiments on you.”

“How did you find out?”

“One day my boss asked me to bring some printed data from one of the empty laboratories. When I came there, I heard some weird noises and crying from the next door. My curiosity won and I looked inside without the scientists noticing me. That was the first time I saw you. You were strapped in a chair with some device on the head and some cables and sensors attached to it and many scientists stood around you. In that moment I realized what this project truly is about.”

“Why didn’t you do anything?”

Matthew threw up his hands. “And what _could_ I do? Who would listen to some data analyst's assistant? That project was classified and we were even prohibited from leaving the building. My hands were tied.”

“So what did you do?”

“During following nights, I started sneaking out of my room to search for the place where they locked you. It took me a week to find that room, but once I found you and even talked to you, I knew someone must save you before you’ll die in that hell. But that was almost impossible, you were very weak from all these tests, the door was locked and guards were patrolling the area. But other two scientists already had the same plan and they also learned that I know about you. So after discussing it in secrecy, we teamed up to get you out of there together. What one couldn’t do alone, the three of us managed to do in the end. It took us another week to prepare everything we needed, and it must’ve been done in absolute secrecy. We needed to take out the guards, switch off the security system and find an escape route. In addition, before we escaped, we deleted all the data they collected on you and destroyed the equipment to prevent them from tracking you down again by following the signal of your UB energy. I don’t know how lucky we were that night, but we managed to sneak you out. Sadly we failed to do that before these experiments damaged your brain.”

“And where did you take me?” asked Anabel, who obviously struggled staying calm.

“I was born in Alola and I was friend with future local Elite 4 member Acerola. You probably know Nanu is her uncle, so we knew each other remotely. After our escape, we headed to Alola and informed Nanu and Looker about everything what happened to you. They agreed that they will hide you there and do as much as possible to keep you safe. Then we left again.”

“But why? Why didn’t you stay with me if you risked so much to get me out alive?”

“Unlike you, they were able to track us three down quite easily. If we stayed, we would risk your safety. We tried to inform police and media, but nobody believed something like that was possible and we sadly had no convincing evidence of their crimes. No jurisdiction would sentence them without it. So no matter how hard we tried, we had nothing on them. But some media informed about that project after all, although none of their articles were too convincing. But our former colleagues got scared and hired a group of criminals to find us before we spill too many of their secrets. They paid them great money for that, so just in a few weeks, they captured all three of us.”

Matthew stopped talking and joined palms in his lap.

“Of course, they wanted to know where we hid you,” he continued after a while. “And to force us to talk, they started to experiment on us in the very same way they experimented on you. But if they ever had any intention to keep you alive for at least some time, they didn’t have that intention with us.”

Anabel gasped. “That’s… vile!”

Matthew nodded and lowered his voice. “Yes, it’s vile. But despite all their effort, they never broke us. They never learned where we took you. And since they had no data and we destroyed all their equipment, they couldn’t track you anymore. But the more desperate they were, the crueler experiments they were trying on us. Every day and every hour was a fight between us and them. A fight for survival. But we were destined to lose sooner or later. In the end, despite enduring so much, both of my friends gave up that fight and died. And I would follow them really soon for sure if they didn't finally rescue me.”

As he was talking, he run through his hair and moved them away from the forehead. And since he wore no headband now, Anabel could see an enormous scar stretching over his entire forehead.

“What… what have they done to you?” she asked, not even trying to mask her trembling voice.

Matthew looked on her and quickly hid the scar. “Damn, you weren’t supposed to see that.”

“Don’t evade that question, Matthew. Tell me the truth. What have they done?”

Matthew sighed. “Are you sure you feel ready for that?”

Anabel nodded.

**_Warning: inhumane experiments descriptions follows. Skip the part if you don’t feel for it._ **

“They… they opened my skull to study my cerebral activity.”

“WHAT?!” yelled Anabel. Her chin trembled and a stream of sweat flow down her cheek.

Matthew didn’t answer and looked away. “You can’t even imagine the pain I experienced. I don’t know how I survived that, because this was the experiment that killed my two friends. A part of my skull is artificial, because the damage caused by them was impossible to fix naturally.”

“And… and these scars?”

“These are from same experiment they did on you. They hurt us intentionally to see if there is any difference in the time of healing between a Faller and normal people. But my wounds were reopened again when they finally started to heal. They also tried to bring us to near-death experience to see if we wake up from that. Some other time they forced us into a virtual reality simulation where they were killing us to see how our body reacts on that. Again, that was the same experiment they did on you. And there’s way more…”

**_End of the part._ **

“Enough!” cried Anabel. “That’s enough, please!”

Matthew looked up. Anabel sat on the bed crouched and trembling with head hidden in palms and cried sedentarily.

“I am sorry,” said Matthew quietly. “I said way too much.”

He sat down next to her and slowly put hand around her shoulders. But it was impossible to stop her from crying. It took her almost ten minutes to collect herself enough to even look on Matthew again. She didn’t even try to slip out of his embrace. His scar was now shining in the cabin light like made from a hot metal.

“How were you saved from there?”

“Some scientists finally had enough of that torturing and informed nearby police departments about it. Unlike us before, they now had enough evidences and a commando stormed the complex and arrested all leaders of the project. They are in jail till today.”

“And what about you?”

“I spent five months in hospital and had several surgeries, followed by series of therapies to get over that experience. I was given a new identity and started my own Pokemon journey as a part of the therapy. Even the name I use today is faked. But I got used to it a long time ago.”

“But why didn’t you return back to me? Why were you hiding for that long?”

Matthew sighed. “We agreed that it will be better for us both. You forgot everything about these horrible days and we didn’t want to remind you. On the other hand, I needed a lot of time to forget and move on, but that wouldn’t be possible if I returned back to you.”

Anabel looked at the floor and Matthew could feel she is trembling again.

“Forgive me,” she whispered. “Forgive me for judging you.”

Matthew shook his head. “There is nothing to forgive. Everyone would react the same way you did. I should be the one asking for forgiveness for storming into your life once again.”

Anabel looked up again.

“I am glad you did.”

“Really now?” asked Matthew. “And why is that?”

“Because now I finally know everything. I can handle it. I am not the same person I was all these years ago.”

“I know you aren't. Look what you’ve achieved already. It’s hard for me to believe you are the same Anabel I knew. You changed a lot since I've seen you for the last time. But still, I would be much happier if I weren’t forced to tell you all this.”

Anabel looked at him. “I already know why you are here. Looker told me that they are still tracking me.”

Matthew nodded. “The leaders may be jailed, but their followers revived the project. We are working together again to accuse them and keep you safe. We won’t allow them to capture you again.”


	6. Teaming Up

Anabel and Matthew were sitting next to each other on the bed in his cabin. Neither one of them said a word, as both had more than enough to think about.

Finally, Anabel looked up and saw Matthew is rubbing the scar on his forehead – an indelible remark of inhumane experiments he was forced to endure.

“Is that painful?” she asked.

“Just bothering,” answered Matthew. “It forces me to wear that headband you saw when we met and long sleeves all the time, otherwise I would scare everyone half to death.”

“Can’t these be removed surgically?”

“That would maybe cover those, but left other elsewhere. I take them as a part of myself, just like you do.”

Anabel sighed a little. She and Matthew truly were very similar in many ways. But this similarity was forced by an unimaginable suffering. And the worst part was that he chose to suffer just to protect her, but she didn’t remember him at all and had no way to thank him enough. And now instead of living his own life and moving forward, he is here again, facing an uncertain future in the name of her safety. And again, she has no way to repay him.

She felt ungrateful.

Matthew interrupted her thoughts when he swiftly stood up.

“We need to get back to the main topic,” he said. “Looker and Nanu used all their sources to collect any possible glipmse of information about the project. This is what we know so far.”

He took a small tablet out of a backpack nearby the bed and quickly pressed a few buttons on the screen. When he handed it to Anabel, she saw a face of a man she never saw before on the screen. He could be around 50 years old, with a little greyish hazelnut brown hair and a beard of the same color.

“Dr. Michael Carter, the leader of current Faller Project team,” explained Matthew. “If you swipe the screen, you’ll find photos of other important scientists involved in this. All of them were only assistants and subordinates when the project ended twelve years ago, so they avoided sentencing.”

Matthew folded his arms and continued.

“According the data we collected, the headquarters is now based in central Sinnoh, in the city of Hearthome.”

“How are they covering their intentions now?” asked Matthew.

“Nowise, and that’s the issue. They openly declared they are investigating cases of confirmed Ultra Beasts infiltrations and collect data about Trainers who encountered them. They periodically inform media and other scientists about their discoveries. But,” Matthew raised a finger, “there’s a lot of fishy about that statement if you dig a little deeper into it."

"And what's that?"

"In the last few weeks there are several unsolved cases of missing Trainers.”

Matthew leaned over Anabel and swiped his fingers over the screen again, so Anabel could see photo of a Trainer.

“All these Trainers were reported missing in last seven weeks or less,” he continued. “The police are clueless. They are searching all over the place these Trainers were last spotted, but without any success. It's like they vanished. Seemingly, there is no connection between these cases, because these Trainers were from five different regions other than Sinnoh, so they are investigating every case separately. Honestly, nobody can blame them, it’s hard to believe these cases are connected in any way. But nobody involved in the investigation realized one thing Nanu and Looker found out not very long ago…”

“Let me guess,” said Anabel. As a former officer herself, she could already jump to conclusions after everything she heard.

“They all encountered Ultra Beasts.”

Matthew nodded. “Correct. These Trainers met at least one Ultra Beast during their time in Alola.”

“So you've found a connection between these Trainers _and_ the Faller Project after all. Now I understand why you are so concerned, that explanation makes perfect sense. Have Nanu and Looker tried to inform Sinnoh police department?”

Matthew nodded again. “It took them a lot of time to persuade the department of Hearthome to investigate there. But they found no evidences on Dr. Carter and his team even when they finally searched theír headquarters.”

“They must’ve moved these Trainers somewhere else and employ people who are extremely loyal and trustworthy,” said Anabel. “They are not that dumb to make the very same mistake twice.”

“That’s what we think as well,” agreed Matthew. “However, without evidences we can’t accuse them and shut this twisted project down for good. We must find these Trainers on our own, but this is where our clues end. We are sure they are once again used as guinea pigs, but we have no idea where they are held or what their current status is. But just as you, they are probably closer to death with every single day. And we are almost sure that one of Carter's ultimate goals is to retrieve you, their first Faller ever. That’s why Looker sent me to stay close to you and inform you about everything you need to know.”

"But why didn't they find me yet? It happened twelve years ago."

"Nanu and Looker did a perfect job. You may remember Nanu almost refused to let you out of the house and now you know why."

"Yes, he was very strict in this," said Anabel as she was returning back to her earlier days. "And that wasn't all. He almost forced me to let my hair grow and when I went out, I always wore them under a shirt and had sunglasses. _And_ I couldn't tell my name to anyone. After I joined International Police he said it was a part of my preparation, so I was ready to work undercover, but I didn't believe it. But I never understood it, but now I do. He did all that to protect me."

"Yes. We erased their data, but they still tried to find you. They needed to keep you out of sight. But once scientists were arrested, this finally ended. Then they gave you more freedom and you could finally start living again. Where you eventually ended is only your accomplishment."

"How long it was since I escaped until they were arrested?"

Matthew shrugged. "Honestly, I have no clue. It was five weeks until they caught me, but I can't tell you how long I was locked there. Days and nights didn't exist for me."

Anabel slowly nodded as she was swiping through the photos of missing Trainers. But when she got to the last one, she gasped and nearly dropped the tablet.

“W-what?!” she shouted when she saw the face of an very adult-like looking Trainer with black spiky hair, a red and white cap and a brown eyes who had a Pikachu on his shoulder. “That’s Ash!”

Matthew raised an eyebrow. “You know him?”

Anabel nodded, hardly keeping her composure. “I… forgot about him after that incident, but my friends told me. He challenged the Frontier and won all his battles, but rejected becoming a Brain. And… I had a crush on him.”

“You had what?” said Matthew. He didn’t even try to hide his surprise.

Anabel waived his surprise away. “That was a long time ago. But that doesn’t matter, I need to help him if he really is held by these scientists!”

Matthew shook his head vigorously. “Not an option. You are in danger yourself, I won’t let you risk even more. Trust me, we are doing whatever we can. If he is in trouble, we’ll get him out.”

Anabel stood up. “I am an officer, Matthew!"

"Retired and injured," added Matthew. "I appreciate your offer, but in this state, you will be more of a burden."

Anabel looked at him almost furiously. "You won’t leave me behind! I have my own debt with these madmen, and I will repay them!”

“But what’s the reason of protecting you if you plan to willingly go near them?” asked Matthew.

“I won’t sit back and wait until they find me!” growled Anabel. “I don’t care if I am retired and injured or not, it’s my duty to help! And if I get a chance to get back on them, that’s even better!”

Matthew sighed. “I understand your anger, but think about this. You’ve lost everything, but you never gave up and even got it back. Do you really want to willingly throw that away? This is not a child’s play, Anabel. You might risk your life if you get caught.”

Anabel couldn't avoid a mocking tone when she asnwered. “And are you any different? You also forgot, yet still here you are, willing to return to that hell again to help others. Or do you believe you will be treated any different if you get caught? So what's the difference, Mr. I-Must-Protect-You?”

Matthew gritted teeth and didn’t answer.

Anabel immediately realized she went too far.

"Sorry."

Matthew just waived his hand.

“We are in a same situation,” continued Anabel. “We fooled the Death once and getting caught is not an option if we don’t want to die for real this time. But neither I nor you are children anymore. And if we work together, we just might be able to take them down for good.”

Matthew was thinking for a while. Anabel clearly didn't want to give her idea up, but will she really be able to handle whatever they might get thrown into?

“Looker will surely kill me if this goes wrong,” he said. “But I already learned that teaming up is much better than working on my own.”

Anabel smiled a little. “I learned that too. Looker was my partner for years.”

“I know that. He told me a lot about you when I asked,” said Matthew. “And I know you two were great partners. I hope I can be at least as good as he was in this case.”

Anabel slowly nodded. Despite the circumstances of their meeting, she was somehow happy she could team up with Matthew. After everything she knew about him up to this point, she already started to understand his intentions. He never stated it openly up to this point, but Anabel knew for sure that he also wants to pay his tormentors back. Otherwise, he would never be here and let Looker and Nanu deal with this. There was far more in stake than her safety, and Matthew deliberately took part in this.

Twelve years passed since they both almost fell into the claws of Death in the name of science. A crooked, vicious science. Something like that wasn’t supposed to ever happen, but it did. And yet, not everyone paid for that crime. But now their former prays are back stronger than they ever were.

She slowly clinched her fist.

They are going to pay for what they did.

"You should go now," said Matthew. "I'll meet you once we drop anchors in Slateport. Then we'll decide what to do."

Anabel nodded, slowly got up and left the cabin, still lost in her own thoughts.

_I will have my vengeance. And I will save those involved in this torment once and for all before it's too late._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading all the way to this point. Now everything is ready for expanding the story. Don't be afraid of ending this plot quickly, many more chapters will be coming. A lot of anime characters is going to appear in this story from now on (Ash, Gary Oak, Brock, Delia Ketchum, May, Dawn and many more more or less important characters). I will be updating the tags when new characters are added to the story. Stay tuned!


	7. Talk Over A Glass

The boat finally docked in Slateport and sailors threw chains to tie it up to massive columns. Then they lowered stairs and all passengers left both top and bottom decks. It was already starting to get dark and despite it was in the middle of the summer, the temperature was slowly dropping.

Anabel was standing on the pier with the suitcase behind her and watched as the passengers were leaving to either continue their journeys immediately on some other ships or find a hotel in the town. Slateport was enormous and used to deal with flood of tourists, so there were many hotels in the city.

Finally, Matthew stepped down from the stairs and looked around. Anabel raised ta hand to catch his attention and Matthew swiftly headed to her. He had only the same light backpack Anabel already saw and wore a dark-blue colored jacket. And once again, he also had a headband.

“I don’t like travelling with many people,” he said. “I feel like I try to orientate inside an anthill when everyone just storms out.”

Anabel smiled, but quickly dropped it again. “What’s the plan?”

Matthew once again opened his tablet. He must’ve some personal notes written there, because after a while he answered.

“We’ll head to Petalburg,” he said. “A Trainer who traveled with Ash Ketchum lives there and she might know something useful. And since I plan to board a plane in Rustboro and head to Kanto, we need to travel through that town. Also, the other missing Trainer’s relatives live in Petalburg as well.”

“That Ash’s companion, isn’t her name May?” asked Anabel.

Matthew nodded. “Was she on the Frontier with him?”

“Yes. I heard she is a strong Coordinator.”

Matthew nodded again and smiled this time. “Yeah, she is. I met her a few times. But we weren’t exactly friends; we just talked during Contests.”

“Do you think she will recognize you?” asked Anabel.

“Who knows? It’s been years.”

Then he took a Pokeball from his belt. “Salamence, I need you.”

When the Dragon-type emerged, Anabel slowly backed off. “What are you doing?”

“Didn’t you plan to travel there on foot now, did you?” said Matthew. “We can’t afford to waste time. My Salamence can carry us both, so jump on.”

Anabel shivered a little. During her time in International Police, she flew on a Pokemon for several times, but she didn’t like it at all. She never openly admitted that she is acrophobic, but people around her knew it very well.

Matthew walked to her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I… can’t do this,” said Anabel. “I hate flying on Pokemon. I will panic up there for sure.”

Matthew put a hand on her shoulder. “Just try it. You already overcame much greater obstacles than this.”

Anabel shook off his hand. “Leave me behind.”

“I have two tasks I need to combine now. Investigate these cases and watch out for you. I can’t leave you here.”

Anabel looked at his Salamence and immediately was forced to step back when it nuzzled its enormous head against her shoulder. It might look intimidating, but its personality clearly didn’t support it.

Matthew suppressed a laugh. “Do you see? Salamence believes in you.”

Anabel inhaled deeply. “Okay. I will try it. But don’t be angry if I start to panic.”

“Don’t worry, I won't be,” answered Matthew. “We won’t fly too high. If you feel it’s too much, just shout at me and we'll land somewhere.”

He jumped on Salamence’s back behind its neck and nodded on Anabel to climb behind him.

“Hook your legs near its wings joints, but watch out for the movement, it might toss you away if you’re not careful.”

“Can I grab you?” asked Anabel. “I really don’t think I can handle this otherwise.”

“Do whatever you need.”

Once Anabel grabbed his waist, Matthew patted Salamence and it slowly soared into the evening sky. Once they started to speed up, the wind around them felt very cold, but their flight to Petalburg shouldn’t take long, otherwise Matthew would never leave in the evening.

Actually, right now he was worried way more about Anabel than the weather. Soon after they left Slateport, he could already feel that she is shaking, and it wasn’t due to cold. She clearly didn’t lie when she told him she hate flying.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Anabel didn’t answer, but Matthew could feel she buried the face into his jacket.

“I truly hate you,” she murmured and clinched him even tighter, if that was even possible.

“That’s the third time already I hear that from you since yesterday.”

“What?”

“Yeah, you hated me at least three different times if I remember correctly. You also feared me, pitied me… I wonder if we will ever get to some good emotions in our relationship.”

Despite being in an uncomfortable position, Anabel couldn’t stop a joyful laugh. “I didn’t mean it like that, you idiot!”

Matthew laughed too. “I know that, but you really asked for this.”

“You’re lucky I am literally forced to hold to you, otherwise I would punch you just like before,” said Anabel.

“Do you think I’d let you for the second time?” answered Matthew.

“We shouldn’t try it, what do you say?”

“No objections here. I like my face as it is.”

With jokes and pricking, the rest of their flight continued in much calmer ambience. After only one hour of flight, Salamence landed near Pokemon Center in Petalburg. The sky was already dark, but the street was literally bathed in light from street lights.

Matthew and Anabel jumped down, both little stiffened and very chilled.

“Do you plan to find May right now?”

Matthew shook his head. “It’s too late. Let’s find a hotel.”

“Why do you plan to go to Kanto if they are based in Sinnoh?” asked Anabel as Matthew returned Salamence to its Pokeball and they both headed down the street.

“I am trying to collect enough evidences on Carter to have him arrested for some time already, but he covers all tracks. By talking to these Trainers relatives and friends, I might be able to find some clues.”

“But shouldn’t you look near Hearthome?”

“That’s not my job. I am just one part of the team. Looker already sent his best agents there. They are watching that place 24/7; whatever they find, they’ll let us know.”

“How many people are on this?”

“Around ten or twelve people in total, including you.”

“So now I am a part of the team?” smiled Anabel.

Matthew didn’t answer as they already reached the hotel doorway. As they walked in, a receptionist behind the counter looked their way.

“Two rooms for this night, please,” said Matthew as he gave him a credit card.

“I am sorry, sir, but we are almost fully booked. We have only a room for two remaining.”

“Separate beds?”

The man nodded and Matthew looked over on Anabel. “Is that fine?”

“Yes.”

It took only a few minutes before the transaction from his card was confirmed and he received a key. The receptionist wanted to show them their room, but Matthew said he knows this hotel already and headed straight towards the elevator with Anabel following him closely.

The furniture inside the room was really basic, simply because this hotel was not one of the most luxurious in Slateport, but everything was nice and clean.

“If you want to take a shower, go ahead,” said Matthew as he unpacked his backpack on one of the beds. “Towels are in there. Or we can have a dinner first.”

“How often were you in this exact hotel?” asked Anabel.

“Three or four times,” answered Matthew. “I slept here just a few days ago, when I was heading to the Frontier. I was in Sinnoh when Looker contacted me and asked me to visit you.”

“Let me guess, spying on Carter?”

“Dear Arceus, no. I can’t show my face near that complex, he remembers me very well. He assisted during some of these experiments they performed on us. I was working in the background and supporting Looker’s agents.”

He took some clean clothes out of the backpack and tossed them onto a drawer next to the bed.

“So what will you do first?”

“A dinner would be fine,” said Anabel. “I haven’t eaten during the entire voyage. I felt like I am going to vomit if I just look at some food.”

“I truly understand that,” said Matthew. “I hope you’ll forgive me, I really said too much.”

“I asked for details myself,” sighed Anabel. “I understand why you didn’t want to tell me at first. I really saw a lot when I was on duty, but this was way too much even for my taste.”

"I'll be more careful next time. Now let’s go eat somewhere before you make even more unintended food puns.”

Anabel smiled. “How do you do that?” she asked when they stepped outside their room.

“Do what?” asked Matthew, locking the door.

“That’s a second time today you cheered me up when I needed it.”

“A little laughter is the best way to stay sane after what we both went through, I learned that already. Maybe I look like I am taking this lightly, but I assure you I never forget what I am here for. Neither should you.”

“I am not.”

“Good.”

Half an hour later they were sitting at a table in otherwise almost empty restaurant, enjoying some well-prepared meals. It was surprising that this restaurant wasn’t more crowded, even though it stood in a small side-alley. During the meal, Matthew refused to speak about anything related with the Project, so they just talked about some parts of their Pokemon journeys.

But after the waiter came to collect the dish, Anabel once again couldn’t hold herself anymore.

“Can we talk seriously now?”

Matthew took a sip from a glass and looked at Anabel over the edge of it. On his recommendation, they also had a glass or two of wine.

“There’s no way to stop you when you want something, is it?”

“If being an officer taught me something, it’s that you need to be persistent.”

Matthew sighed a little.

“I won’t try to persuade you differently. Spit out whatever is bothering your mind.”

“I just feel like I’ve been deceived all these years,” said Anabel. “I should’ve known all this a long time ago. I wouldn’t be such a burden for your investigation now.”

“I am sorry about calling you a burden, that was too harsh."

"I know you didn't mean it. But what was the real deal about keeping me unaware?"

"Nobody could’ve known that Carter will even dare to do something like this again after his colleagues were arrested,” answered Matthew. “We simply assumed that you won’t need to know. Don’t you think your life was better without this?”

“Well… yes, but it was also confusing. I felt like I had a big hole in my memories and was supposed to search in complete darkness.”

Matthew emptied the glass and pointed it slightly across the table. “I hear you. But some memories should remain buried forever. These are not easy to live with. You suffered and it changed you, but it didn’t change you as much as it would if you remembered. I’d be so happy to be in your shoes.”

Anabel snorted. “Would you really? Can you imagine how hard that was for me? I was forced to live in a totally new life without a trace of hint why I ended like that. That was way worse than knowing the truth.”

“Do you really think so?” answered Matthew. “Then answer me this. How would you cope with these memories?”

“I would, somehow.”

“No, Anabel, you wouldn’t. You were just sixteen when all that happened. Don’t you think that after learning that you were a guinea-pig… that you lost everything you ever had because of these madmen… that you can’t return to your friends or family… don’t you think that after learning that, you would just try to end things for good?”

Matthew put the glass down and continued with the same lowered voice.

“I was only eighteen when this happened. And just as you, I was destined to never be the same. I was a talented student hungry for knowledge. I didn’t even become a Trainer just to be able to pursue my dream; I hoped I will be a famous researcher one day, helping to improve lives of people and Pokemon. And look at me now, Anabel. Who am I now?”

Anabel wanted to answer, but when she saw Matthew’s face, she quickly desisted from it. Even though he was always calm and collected, it was apparent that he is barely holding himself from cracking up now.

“I am a ruined man. Filled only with hate towards those who have done this to both of us, and the only thing I am focused on is a desire to stop this madness and avenge myself. These memories are still coming back to me. During the first months, I woke up every night screaming in fear. I just wished it to end, but it was still coming back. Every single day. I even tried to kill myself just to end that suffering. And all this is still returning to me, now stronger than ever. Everything you see on me today is just a well-fitting mask I learned to wear, and I allowed nobody to remove that mask. Not even my family, not even my friends. But under this mask, I am still the very same as I was the first day after I woke up in the hospital. Forced to deal with all the pain and the memories about it… about what I lost… about my dead friends. And I will never truly get rid of this until my days end. I don’t want to compare if I lost more than you, but I still think that by simply forgetting everything about it, you made a much better deal than I did. Do you really wish to be like me?”

Anabel was sitting silently, not being able to say a word after what she heard.

Matthew closed his eyes and exhaled deeply.

“I am sorry for dragging you into my feelings,” he said. “Or this whole thing at all.”

“Don’t be…” said Anabel. “I should be sorry for jumping to conclusions so quickly... _again_.”

“That’s just a glimpse of Officer Anabel taking charge,” said Matthew, once again forcing a smile on her face. It truly felt like he let her look under his mask, then he put it back, flipped a switch and everything was back to normal. Or at least it looked like that.

“But I still think it was for the best that you’ve come to me,” said Anabel after a while. “You say you must protect me, but what if it’s you who needs help?”

“What do you mean?”

“I am starting to think you’re not here only to get back on Carter. You could easily hide somewhere and let Looker take care of it, but you didn’t.”

“Because I was scared what could happen to you if they failed somehow,” said Matthew. “Or these kidnapped Trainers. I couldn’t forgive myself for not doing anything.”

“And what’s the rest of the story here?” asked Anabel. “I just know you persuade something more. You said you still didn’t cope with these memories. Don’t you think this is the part where I could be helpful?”

“I am a bit lost in your logic now.”

“I don’t know what I said to you when you helped me from there, but I know clearly that I wasn’t as unfriendly as today. We both lived differently since the Project, but you can’t deny there still is a bond between us after all this time. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here. What if everything you need to finally find peace within yourself is to restore that bond? I might have forgotten a lot about you, but I can still be helpful here. And I am sure you wouldn't tell me all these things about yourself if you didn't think that as well.”

After a small while, Matthew answered.

“I know you have a special gift to read in people’s hearts, Anabel, but I never imagined you come up with this.”

“Wait, am I right or not?”

“Only Arceus knows if that's what I really need. But you were right that there is a bond tying us together. That thing you talked about, it's sure worth a shot, I won't deny it. And since we will be working together for some time, we also might focus some effort on that part.”

“You have an awful habit of talking in riddles sometimes,” said Anabel.

“You’re an officer, solve them,” said Matthew, but he finally smiled a little. “But put that aside for now. We have a lot to do tommorow. I would really recommend getting some sleep. We need to find May quickly tommorow.”

Suddenly, somebody spoke up behind his back.

“Why are you looking for her?”

When Matthew turned around, he saw a teenager black-haired boy standing behind him. Just as him, he wore black-framed glasses. When Matthew looked to the next table, he saw a half-eaten meal there. Max was probably a regular customer in this restaurant too.

“Arceus above, don’t crawl on me like that if you don’t want to end badly,” he said. “Don’t you know it’s impolite to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations?”

“I am sorry to interrupt whatever you were talking about, but I heard May’s name,” he said.

"You know her?"

“I am her brother, Max.”

Matthew raised an eyebrow. “Max? Max Harisson?”

“Yes.”

“That could save us a lot of time,” said Anabel. “Can you tell your sister we need to talk to her tomorrow?”

“And who exactly are you?” said Max, looking suspiciously on Matthew’s headband as he quickly slide it lower on his forehead.

Anabel took out a card from her pocket. “I am Anabel Reeves, from International Police. This is my partner. We need to talk to your sister about Ash Ketchum.”

Max’s eyes widened. “But he disappeared weeks ago! Do you know something about him?”

“We’re still searching for clues,” said Matthew. “I assume by your reaction that you knew him as well.”

“We traveled with him,” said Max. “It’s years, but he’s visiting from time to time. He has been there not long ago, but we heard he disappeared after that. Do you know anything?”

“Not yet, and even if we did, we won’t talk about it here here,” said Matthew. “But your testimony might also be helpful to us. Can we meet you and your sister tomorrow morning?”

Max nodded and gave them the address. Then he left to keep them in their talks.

Matthew looked at Anabel once Max was gone. “I won’t rather ask why do you still have your ID card, but it clearly helped now. I don’t want to imagine explaining the situation to either May or Max. This really saved us a lot of time.”

Anabel stood up. “Old habits never die, Matthew. I just simply return to my job if I need. This is just another case, with a little bit of personal touch. Let’s try to get some sleep and find some clues tomorrow.”

Matthew laughed quietly. “I hear Officer Anabel really taking charge now. And that line with me being your partner was brilliant. But I hope I can still call you by your name. 'Police Officer Anabel Reeves' sounds really horrible in a normal sentence.”

“Stop with these stupid jokes finally or I will really punch you again,” said Anabel, shoving him into a shoulder, but saying that, she was laughing too.

They paid for their meals and headed towards the hotel through almost completely quiet streets.


	8. First Clues

Early in the morning after they so unexpectedly met Max in the restaurant, Anabel and Matthew were already standing in front of Petalburg Gym. According to the address Max gave them, they should come here, although neither Anabel nor Matthew knew the reason why they want to meet them inside the Gym.

After Anabel knocked on the locked door, Norman came outside.

“Good morning, sir,” she said. “I am Anabel Reeves, from International Police. We are sorry to bother you this early, but we would like to meet your daughter.”

“I know that,” Norman answered. “Come with me, please.”

He let them inside the Gym and locked the door once again. As he passed them to show them the way through the Gym’s corridors, he looked rather suspiciously on their not very formal looking clothes.

Anabel and Matthew learned shortly after that the Gym is also a living accommodation for Harrison’s family. It was quite logical, because Norman served as the Petalburg Gym leader for a long time, much longer than both of them remembered.

He led them inside a room where Max and May were already waiting, sitting at the table. And by their rather worried looks, they knew that the news they bring are something they don’t want to hear.

Norman gestured towards empty chairs on the opposite side of the table and sat down next to his kids.

“Thanks for letting us in this early,” said Anabel when they both sat down. “I will introduce myself once again. I am Anabel Reeves, a Frontier Brain and International Police officer.”

“And this man?” asked Norman, looking at Matthew.

“I am Matthew Grant, her colleague during this case.”

He caught May’s gaze and looked at her. She looked way older than he remembered her. But despite she was way over 20 now, she still was girly-cute in some way.

Judging by her look, he already realized she still have some glimpses of memories about him, and hurried to confirm her suspicion before she could start asking and avert them from their actual goal.

“Yes, May, I am the man you met during Contests from time to time. It’s nice to see you still remember me.”

“It would be hard not to, you were way older than a normal Trainer even back then,” said May. “And you still look very much the same.”

Then she looked at Anabel. “And… are you the one Ash battled on the Frontier?”

Anabel nodded. “The very same.”

“But you look so different now,” said Max, who finally realized who he was talking with yesterday. “I’d never guess it.”

“People change,” said Anabel. “And it’s almost fifteen years since you’ve seen me on the Frontier. I don’t hold against you that you didn’t recognize me.”

“How did you get into International Police?”

“That’s not important,” said Matthew. “I am sure she’d like to talk to you about it, but we have a lot to do here.”

May nodded. “I understand.”

When the short conversation between ended, Anabel continued with the previous topic.

“I know you are expecting that we’ll tell you some news about Ash since he disappeared so suddenly, but I am afraid we don’t have almost anything to share with you right now. In fact, we are here because we are looking for some answers you might provide to us.”

Matthew took out his tablet, showed the photo of missing Trainers to everyone and continued.

“These five Trainers including Ash disappeared in several regions in range of a few weeks, without leaving a single trace,” he said. “Currently we are working with an assumption that they were abducted.”

“Abducted?” said Norman.

“Yes, Mr. Norman,” said Anabel. “We are not entirely sure, but it’s our strongest assumption.”

“But who could’ve done that, and why?” asked May.

“We already have a suspect, but this information is prohibited until we are able to safely connect him with the disappearance of these Trainers and have him arrested.”

“But if you already have this assumption, why are you here?” asked Max. “What do you want from us?”

“We need to track down these Trainers and try to collect all pieces of this jigsaw.”

“How long it is since Ash has visited you for the last time?” asked Matthew.

“Seven, maybe eight weeks,” said Max.

Matthew and Anabel shared a look. They both know they might have found something. Ash disappeared shortly after that.

“Did he tell you where he plans to go next?” asked Matthew.

“I remember he said something about visiting his old friends in Alola.”

Matthew raised an eyebrow.

“So he didn’t return to Pallet Town?”

“His mother called us that he didn’t return,” said May. “He clearly didn’t make it back.”

Matthew stood up so quickly that the chair tilted back. “Excuse me, I must make a call.”

He swiftly stepped outside the room, pulling a phone out of his pocket.

Although a little surprised, Anabel continued asking May and Max about Ash’s disappearance in the meantime, but their conversation was cut short when Matthew’s suddenly raised voice echoed from the other room.

“I don’t care about that! This is your responsibility, Nanu! He probably was targeted for a long time, he was on your island and you didn’t even know it until now! So lift your goddamn comfy ass finally and find everything you can!”

A surprised silence filled the room as Matthew continued after a little break.

“I might very well tell Anabel about your little secret if you don’t fix this mess, dammit! Find us some evidences! And inform Looker!”

A minute later, Matthew returned back and everyone could see he is really angered this time.

“Arceus damn that man!” he said. “How is it even possible that we didn’t know this weeks ago?”

Anabel looked at him questioningly.

“According to what Max and May told us, Ash was in Alola roughly during the time he disappeared and never returned home from there. That means he must’ve been abducted somewhere in Alola, but Nanu didn’t even bother to start investigating in Alola to find that out. So we were searching all over the world like idiots for all this time while we maybe had a goddamn golden evidence right under his nose! I don’t understand how that man still keeps his job, Anabel! You probably wouldn’t find anyone less interested about doing his work!”

“Okay, just calm down,” said Anabel. “Nanu isn’t that bad if you get to know him. Trust me; I know about that.”

Matthew deeply exhaled few times and finally calmed down a little.

“I am sorry about that,” he said more towards Max, May and their father than towards Anabel. “But you probably realize this is not a child’s play, and now I know we could’ve already been miles ahead with this case several weeks ago…”

“So you two are colleagues?” asked May. “Are you both working for International Police?”

Matthew shared another look with Anabel.

“No, we are not colleagues,” he answered after a while. “In fact, I am not a detective at all.”

Norman raised an eyebrow. “Then why do you know so much about this?”

“This already happened years ago and I was a part of that. In fact, we both were.” He paused for a while and then continued with much darker tone. “And truth to be told, we were lucky to survive that first experience with this case.”

“So this is very personal for us both,” added Anabel before anyone else could say something.

“What are you talking about?” said May.

“I won’t talk about that,” said Matthew. “It’s not nice, and besides, we need to focus on Ash. Is there anything else you can tell us? Anything he mentioned you might be important.”

“He mentioned something about Ultra Guardians when he talked about his friends from Alola,” said Max. “Apparently, they were a squad and they captured Ultra Beasts who emerged in Alola. And he had some really good stories to share.”

Anabel nodded. “Did he mention anything strange happening to him when he encountered them?”

“Once he needed to go to the place where they came from,” said May. “One of these Ultra Beasts took the mother of his friend back to its world, but I can’t remember the name of it… So they went there to rescue her.”

Matthew punched to the table. “That’s it! That’s what made him so interesting for them!”

Anabel gasped quietly. “Do you think…?”

“What else could it be? A Trainer who was in the Ultra World, but not a Faller! That’s like a golden mine!”

“What’s a Faller?” asked May.

“Faller is a person who spent some time in the Ultra World, mostly by accident,” explained Anabel.

“So that person who according to you abducted Ash is focusing on Fallers?” said Norman.

“Either Fallers, or person who met Ultra Beasts in general,” answered Matthew. “We already confirmed that all these Trainers met them.”

“But who could use that knowledge?” thought Max. “That sounds more like a scientific kind of thing to me than anything else. Only scientists would find this somehow valuable…”

The sad smile on Matthew’s face made him blink in surprise.

“Wait, you think some scientists kidnapped him?!”

Matthew nodded. “There’s no point in denying it now, you've already connected these clues.”

“But what makes you think that in the first place?”

“As I said, this thing already happened before.”

May gasped. “You were abducted?”

“Not him. _I was._ ”

Everyone looked at Anabel, including Matthew, as she started to roll the sleeve of her jacket up.

Matthew quickly squeezed her arm and shook his head.

“They don’t need to know everything,” he said.

“You bet we need to know everything!” said May. “What might happen to Ash if that's really a repetition of something?”

Anabel rolled up her sleeve so everyone could see some of her scars.

“The same what happened to me. I didn’t get these scars by cutting Oran Berries.”

May, Max and even Norman were now almost hypnotically looking at her arm, studded with larger and smaller scars.

“And you haven’t seen the worst of them,” added Anabel after she rolled the sleeve down again.

May raised her head to meet Anabel’s eyes. “What happened to you?” she asked quietly. “How could someone do this willingly?”

Before Anabel could answer, she once again felt a hand on her shoulder. When she turned her head, she saw Matthew’s face is an odd mixture of sadness and amazement.

“Are you really sure you want to tell them?” asked Matthew.

“This is not only about them,” answered Anabel. “I need their help too, you know. I still have many blank spaces to fill…”

“I… see. In all honor, Anabel, I wouldn’t have strength to do this.”

He stood up once again. “I’ll go make some calls and book a flight to Alola. We have a lot to do and I really don’t want to hear this again…”

He stepped out of the room and closed the door. And even though he really kept his word and called several of Looker’s agents to collect new information and share the news they found together, he couldn’t stop a shiver whenever he heard surprised shriek from the other side of the door. And then, it was replaced by sobbing. Sincere, horrified sobbing.

He could almost feel the unbearable pain again when he took down his headband and ran fingers over his scar.

_Arceus knows I am much weaker than I look like…_

_Can I really do this?_

He never returned back to the room. Anabel joined him about half an hour later, along with Max and Norman. May stayed inside and just one look at others was enough to understand why. They were shocked at least, and May must’ve been in much worse state right now.

Max walked towards him.

“You have to find Ash and others,” he said. He couldn’t mask a shaky voice as he spoke up.

“We will,” said Matthew.

“And… thanks for what you did for Anabel. She was so nice to us when we met her on the Frontier.”

“I did what was needed,” said Matthew. “Is May okay?”

“She will be,” said Norman. “She is just… you know. You were right, we shouldn’t have asked at all. Be careful, both of you.”

Matthew nodded once again and they both left the Gym after thanking them for the information.

Neither of them said a word before they returned to their hotel room and start packing to leave to Alola. Anabel didn’t question Matthew’s decision as she’d do the same in his shoes.

As she was packing these few things she had, she heard Matthew saying her name quietly.

“What?” she asked.

When she turned around, she saw Matthew standing near the balcony, looking down on the street.

“I know you want to know everything about your life before the incident, simply because you know what caused your amnesia now,” he said. “But for Arceus’ sake, please, be more careful next time…”

“May will handle this,” she said. “And we will surely find Ash in time.”

“It’s not May who I am worried about if this goes on,” said Matthew, turning around. “Do you remember what I told you yesterday? About that mask thing?”

He sighed and looked away.

“I am really starting to regret coming back. That mask is starting to crumble with each single incident like this one.”

“You regret coming back?” repeated Anabel, clearly surprised. “But why? I thought you wanted to avenge your friends."

Matthew shared another sad smile with her. "I thought I am strong enough to do that, but I am not. I am afraid that the closer we get to find Ash and others, the more of a burden I will be."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry that this chapter took me a longer time, but I had a lot to do in the meantime. See you soon again. :)


	9. Payback

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone. To make it up for a long wait for a previous chapter, I bring you this one quicker. I can't say I can hold this pace up all the way to the end, but I am doing my best so far.  
> Also, thank you for the comments and kudos. :)

The next morning, Matthew and Anabel were sitting in a business class of a plane heading to Hau’oli City, the capital of Melemele Island in Alola.

After what they learnt from May, they visited the relatives of other missing Trainer from Hoenn, but obtained no useful information and decided to change plans and track Ash’s last know location in Alola in hope to find more about their location and evidences against Dr. Carter.

The Rustboro-Hau’oli route was one of the longest which this company operated and the flight took almost seven hours, so Matthew insisted on catching this late night flight to save time which they never had in the first place. That meant they spent the night approximately 30,000 feet above the ground. To make that at least a little bearable, he didn’t book tickets in economy class. Although the plane was rather empty, it would be hard for both of them to have at least some sleep there.

Before they boarded the plane, he asked Anabel about her acrophobia just in case, but she assured him that her fear only apply on flying on a Pokemon. And really, during the entire flight no sign of fear was present in her face.

When then both woke up in the morning after resting as much as possible, they found out that the plane will land on Melemele in about an hour. The flight attendants were just serving breakfast and the sun was slowly rising above the horizon.

“So what’s the plan?” asked Anabel when they finished their meal. Although not the best meal ever served in a plane, it satisfied their needs enough.

Matthew looked up from his tablet. During the entire night, he was receiving messages from Looker’s agents. This class had a wireless connection, which was extremely useful for him, and he was pleased by the news he received, judging at least by his satisfied look.

“Nanu probably didn’t like that some civilian was scolding him yesterday,” he said, “but it woke him up. I have addresses of his friends. Two of them are on Melemele now. I say we should pay them a visit.”

“No objections,” said Anabel. “Can you tell me who it is? I might know them.”

“I almost forgot you spent years in Alola. Mallow Whiteford and Lillie Stewart.”

To his surprise, Anabel smiled. “I know them both. Whiteford’s Aina’s Kitchen is one of the best restaurants on Melemele. And Stewart’s are one of the wealthiest families. Lillie’s mother was the president of Aether Paradise some years ago.”

Matthew wanted to reply when a new message appeared on the screen. He looked at it and blinked in surprise. “Now that’s what I call a juicy fact. According to Nanu, it was Lillie’s mother who Ash and his friends rescued from Ultra World all these years ago. And it looks like she entered there deliberately.”

“I remember Nanu told me something like that when I entered International Police. Why do you think she did that?”

“No clues here to be honest. I heard a lot about Lusamine when I was younger and still lived in Alola. She was a wealthy and powerful woman with a strong desire to help abandoned Pokemon. If I had to guess, something must’ve changed in her during these years, but that’s all I know. But now we have another connection between Ultra Beasts and Ash. We need to question Lillie about that.”

“Wait a minute,” said Anabel when she realized what both of them overlooked before. “But Lillie must’ve been in the Ultra World too if she befriended Ash during that time and went to rescue her own mother. And Mallow too. All of them must’ve been in contact with Ultra Beasts.”

“That’s without a question.”

“So… don’t you think Carter won’t be satisfied only with Ash if he has other Trainers who were in the same place?”

Matthew blinked in surprise. “But they are not reported missing as far as we know!”

Anabel shook her head. “What if they just didn’t try to abduct them yet? They might wait for a good opportunity to take them without a trace as they took others. I don’t think Carter would let this opportunity slip between fingers.”

Matthew gritted his teeth. “Dammit, I am an idiot. You’re right, Anabel, I know that bastard too well to believe that he will pass this chance. So much for our investigation. We have to warn Ash’s friends in the first place.”

He quickly started typing messages for Nanu and Looker. When he finally looked up, his worried look immediatelly alerted Anabel that something is badly wrong.

“I asked them to move Mallow and Lillie and their families to the headquarters on Melemele. The same for their other friends who were in touch with Ash regularly. But there is a new case and Looker thinks it might be related to this.”

He showed a photo of a young blue-haired woman to Anabel.

“Lana Palmer. Missing from yesterday’s morning.”

“I saw her in Aina’s a few times. I’d guess she was on a good terms with Mallow.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I remember her well. She is really hard to overlook.”

“So we are too late after all. If she is such a close friend with Mallow, that means she was on the same terms with Ash…”

Anabel looked up from the screen.

“Carter’s men?” she asked.

“I’d bet my life on that.”

Anabel looked out of the window.

_How many people are endangered now? And how many innocent people will be dragged in something they started?_

“We need to hurry…”

An hour later the plane touched the runway on Hau’Oli City airport. Matthew and Anabel spent the entire time exchanging messages with Looker who informed them about the new investigation. With every new message, their assumption that Lana is another victim of Carter’s wicked Ultra Beasts research program was even stronger.

When they left the plane and took their bags in the airport hall, a young man with black glasses spotted them and swiftly walked towards them. His long-sleeve jacket didn’t exactly match with the blazing hot temperature outside just as theirs. Matthew was already pulling something out of his pocket as the man headed straight towards them, but Anabel quickly stopped him.

“What are you doing here, Yannis?” she addressed the man.

“I have an order to bring you to the headquarters ASAP, chief,” he said. "What's happening here is a total madness."

“Let’s go then,” said Anabel. "But stop addressing me chief, I am not your superior anymore."

Then she turned towards Matthew. “This is Yannis, one of my former colleagues in the department, and a really capable man. Yannis, meet Matthew. He’s an old friend and he was involved in the original Faller Project.”

“I already heard about you from Looker,” said Yannis as they briefly shook hands.

They left the airport and found a car with a driver ready right in front of the entrance door. Yannis sat on the front seat and Anabel and Matthew took the one in the back. It wasn’t hard to notice that this car has darkened windows.

“Looker really wants to get us in unnoticed I guess,” said Anabel.

Yannis nodded. “He agrees with your conclusions about that last case we got,” he said.

“How’s the investigation going on?”

“No clues so far, but we are working hard on that.”

“And what about their other friends?” asked Matthew.

“We are working as quickly as possible,” he said. “Whiteford’s and Stewart’s families are in a safe place already, but they don’t like that too much. They want answers.”

“They’ll get them from us,” said Matthew. “And others?”

“That’s a bit harder. There are at least two other people closely accompanied with Ketchum and Palmer, but they are on other islands. We sent our teams there to track them.”

“Any traces about whoever abducted Lana?” said Anabel.

“Well, not about them exactly, but we have arrested someone who we believe is affiliated with them. But since that, we are constantly under attack.”

“What?”

“Some man is attacking the headquarters since today's morning and he is still evading our troops. We don't know what his int-"

He couldn’t finish the sentence as the driver suddenly yanked the steering wheel so quickly that the car entered and uncontrollable drift. Eveyone in the car lost balance. Matthew and Yannis were pinned against the door and the driver and Anabel fell right on them. In the next second, a blast emerged a cloud of dust in front of them and the car was forcefully almost stopped on the spot. The seatbelts were stretched to maximum as four bodies pressed against them, but managed to hold in their place. They stopped in the middle of a suburban street packed with family houses.

Matthew quickly looked out of the window and saw a Pokemon high in the sky. It was a Charizard, and he was clearly preparing to blast the car with another attack.

“EVERYONE OUT!” he yelled.

Luckily for them, the car stayed on wheels. A second after all four of them jumped out of the car and away from it, a Flamethrower hit the roof of it and started to melt the roof.

The people on the street started to run away, screaming.

Matthew was the first to grab a Pokeball.

“Salamence, Dragon Tail!”

The Dragon-Type quickly caught up with the rising Charizard and hit it with a powerful attack, but Charizard turned around as it was falling and blasted Salamence with Dragon Pulse, knocking it down as well.

Now Matthew realized what he didn’t see in all that rush as they were escaping from the car. That Charizard was Mega Evolved!

“This is not a wild Charizard!” he said.

“You bet it’s not,” said someone who stepped on the road in front of their half-melted car.

Matthew gasped, completely overpowered by a shock for a few seconds.

Then all the anger he hold inside himself for all these years burst out.

“HAYWOOD!!” he yelled.

“Ah, nice to see that at least your brain remained intact,” he said. “I am glad you remember me.”

He turned towards Anabel, whose confused face didn’t match with Matthew’s at all.

“But I am a bit saddened that you’ve forgotten me, Reeves. Or should I say Officer Reeves? Don’t worry, I will remind you.”

Matthew stepped forward.

“DON’T YOU DARE, HAYWOOD!”

“And what are you going to do with that? Attack me? Go ahead.”

Matthew quickly grabbed another Pokeball.

“Primarina, Hydro Pump!”

Haywood nodded at his Charizard. “Flare Blitz.”

Charizard easily dodged Primarina’s attack and aimed Flare Blitz on it, sending it flying straight on Matthew who didn’t manage to jump out of the way this time. Primarina knocked him down too and pushed both of them few meters back on the hard asphalt.

Anabel ran towards him. “Matthew! Are you okay?”

Matthew slowly stood up and returned Primarina to its Pokeball. He was grimacing painfully and blood was tripping from an open wound on his arm, soaking the sleeve of his jacket.

“If you don’t want to end even worse, don’t try to attack me again when I speak,” said Haywood. “No-one of you can match my Charizard, not even a Frontier Brain.”

His Charizard landed next to him, gazing on the group so deadly that they could feel cold sweat running down their backs.

There is no joking with this man.

Haywood continued with a mocking smile. “I am glad we finally meet again, Reeves. Twelve years is a long time, but now we can restart what that foolish traitor next to you ended.”

“You’re one of them!” gasped Anabel. “From the Faller Project!”

“Smart girl. No wonder you were an officer.”

Anabel stepped forward. “Where do you hold everyone you abducted?!”

“My, my, you are really impatient. Don’t worry, you’ll find out. They are all alive… _yet._ ”

Anabel gritted her teeth. “So say it. What do you suckers want?”

“You, of course. That’s only logical. You were a pioneer of our research, but sadly we couldn’t finish what we started. Now we have a chance to fix that.”

“Pioneer of research, huh? Sounds more like a guinea pig for a twisted goal to me.”

“Why are you so harsh, Reeves? We are doing it for a bigger good, like all scientists.”

“You are not scientists, you’re madmen! You should rot in the jail for the rest of your bloody lives! And we’ll get you there!”

Haywood shrugged. “Call it whatever you want, you won’t change the facts. We achieved many fabulous inventions thanks to your help. And now we can achieve even more. Our project moved ahead by miles in these years.”

“Save it!” said Anabel. “I know what you did to us! You’re not going to trick me like that!”

“Okay, then we’ll do it the harsh way. I give you a choice, Reeves, along with your so-called traitorous friend. Come with us to continue our research or we take care about these Trainers for good. It’s you two, or them, so choose.”

“Before I decide, answer me this – how did you find me at all now?”

Haywood smiled. “I admit that Grant and his friends did a good job in covering your tracks, Reeves. But they couldn’t erase everything. And what’s easier that pushing an officer into an investigation that would concern her more than anything? We knew you couldn’t resist digging your noses into this once you learn who you were.”

“So all these abductions were just a trap to lure us here?”

“Yes and no. We still have a use for these Trainers, but we are not that dumb to leave you all these hints deliberately.”

Then he turned towards Matthew. “By the way, you made a nice try to sniff on us in Hearthome, Grant, but you're not as clever as you maybe think, along with that idiot Looker. Didn’t you fools ever hear about ghost companies?”

Matthew clinched his fist. “So everything we investigated so far…”

“Was a fake, yes,” laughed Haywood. “So decide now. Will you leave these Trainers to die there or you’ll return where you belong?”

“I have a third option, you bloody bastard!” yelled Matthew. “I still owe you a payback for Tristan and Redford!”

“Now I am truly starting to worry about your mental health,” said Haywood. “Don’t you see that you can’t beat me with your pathetic Pokemon?”

He wanted to say something more, but stumbled when Matthew lunged towards Yannis, who was still standing there without doing anything except listening to everything they said, and grabbed a pistol from his belt. With a movement showing that he is not doing this for the first time, he unlocked the fuse and aimed. All that took him a little over two seconds.

Yannis lunged towards him to retrieve the pistol as Haywood immediately jumped away from the expected trajectory of the bullet.

But both of them were too slow as Matthew already pulled the trigger.

“Matthew, no!” yelled Anabel.

Her words perished in an echo of the gunshot. Although Haywood was already jumping out of the way, Matthew re-aimed a split of a second before he fired and the bullet drilled a bloodied hole in Haywood's forehead. He fell down on the road as his Charizard immediatelly lunged straight on Matthew. He threw another Pokeball and Alolan Marowak emerged from it, hitting Charizard with a quick Bone Rush, followed by Shadow Ball. Because Charizard had no Trainer to guide it now, it failed to dodge the attacks which were powerful enough to knock it out of the combat this time.

The echo of police sirens suddenly filled the air as several cars stormed onto the street. Several policemen jumped out, quickly securing the area, as Looker got off one of the cars and rushed towards them.

“Is everyone okay?” he asked.

Then he finally noticed dead Haywood lying on the street, a puddle of blood under his body.

“What… what happened here?”

Anabel clearly wanted to answer, but the sound of a metal hitting the asphalt interrupted her.

Matthew dropped Yannis’ pistol on the ground and when Anabel and Looker turned around, they both saw him standing in the middle of the street with head dropped.

And for the first time Looker or Anabel could remember, they saw tears flowing from his tightly closed eyes.


	10. Salt In The Wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jubilee Chapter 10 is here, thank you once again for all your hits, kudos and comments.  
> I know you are all eager to see how this story continues as much as I am, but I have a little problem with my laptop. That means I need to send this story on a really short hiatus to fix this. I don't know how long it will take, but it shouldn't be more than a week if everything goes smoothly. Please stay patient until then.  
> \- TCW

After they finally made it to the headquarters, shocked but unharmed, Anabel and Looker went straight into the office to discuss everything what happened in detail. Nanu joined them after a few minutes and they briefly informed him about situation.

Matthew wasn’t with them. After he shot Haywood right on the street, he spent the rest of the time until they came here sitting stiffly in one of the police car. Then he locked himself on a toilet and didn’t come out at least for an hour.

After what policemen saw on the scene, they immediately tried to arrest him, but Looker and Anabel stopped them. International Police was still superior to local department of Hau’Oli, and both Looker and Anabel were still well-respected in Alola thanks to their successful operations in years before. That was probably the only thing that saved Matthew from sitting in a pre-trial detention cell already, but Hau’Oli department was already working with testimonies of several eyewitnesses and it was only a matter of time before Matthew is officialy accused of murder.

Yannis spent the entire morning in heated discussions with policemen and Looker’s detectives. The fact that he didn’t prevent a civilian from taking his pistol threw him into a bad light for on both fronts.

In the meantime, Looker and Anabel were searching for files about the dead scientist. According to what they found, Dr. Christian Haywood was born in Lacunosa Town in Unova and thanks to his talent, he got a scholarship on a prestigious university in Castelia, where he graduated just when the original Faller Project started. He was already known as a talented scientist specializing on Pokemon neural systems and a comparison with human neural system.

Thanks to that, he got a place in a neurological team working on this project right after he graduated.

Before the project was busted, he never got any troubles with being on a wrong side of the law, but when he was accused, there were testimonies about his aggressive behavior and impulsivity. The charges against him related to inhuman torture and murder were eventually dropped because of a lack of evidences and he was sentenced for five years for restrictions of personal liberty and abduction. He eventually helped accusing his former bosses of these major crimes in exchange for the drop of some charges against him as they were sentenced for life.

Just as Anabel and Looker finished looking through Haywood’s files, the door opened and Matthew went in. He didn’t say a word, but everyone could see from his face that he is far from his usual calmness. His eyes were reddish and wrinkles on his face made him look at least ten years older. The fact that he didn’t have either headband or long-sleeves would force anyone else than the trio in the room to run away from him. Quite long fresh wound on his right arm wasn't looking dangerous, but it must've been rather painful.

He walked past them to the window and looked outside.

Anabel finally broke the silence with a question anyone would ask in this situation.

“Are you okay?”

No answer.

Looker sighed. “Stop pretending you are mute now. Do you realize what you’ve done?”

Matthew still didn’t answer.

“Matthew, this is not a joke. There are numerous witnesses. Whatever was your reason, you had no right to take Yannis’ pistol and shoot him!”

Matthew turned away from the window and slammed his fist against the table so unexpectedly that everyone else in the room jumped in surprise.

“I told you already that I had the right and I haven’t changed my opinion yet, Looker!”

Looker sighed and slammed his forehead with a palm. “Did you fall here from NoLawsLandia?”

Matthew frowned. “I respect you as a friend, but watch your mouth.”

Looker didn’t back down.

“What do you think will happen now? What am I supposed to do? Yes, I could stop them from arresting you now, but I can’t drop charges against you!”

“That’s my problem,” said Matthew. “You don’t need to bother yourself with covering me. All I need from you is to avert charges until we finish this.”

“And how do you think we do it? We have absolutely nothing. We could’ve arrested him and get the information, but all we have now is a dead body and a dead alley at the end of our track.”

Matthew frowned. “I will correct your expectations a little. You wouldn’t arrest Haywood. Much more likely he would burn us all to a crisp with that Charizard. And even if, I highly doubt he would tell you anything.”

“But that still doesn’t mean you had the right to shoot him.”

“You’d do the same in my shoes.”

He made an angered gesture.

“That bastard truly enjoyed running all these wicked experiments when they held us captive. I can't even remember how many times he tortured us. This was my first chance to pay him back for it in twelve years!”

He touched the scar on his forehead. “This was _his_ idea. I bet you already know he had a neurology degree.”

Anabel blinked. “So Haywood was one of the bosses?”

“I’d say he was now. Back then, he wasn’t exactly a boss, but he had quite a good position in the hierarchy. Neurological team was highly respected because of the true goal of the project. But behind all his knowledge, he was a sadistic madman.”

“How is possible that he wasn’t in jail if all this is true?”

“Haywood planned everything in advance,” said Matthew. “I bet he prepared a back door if the project blows out.”

“Even if, that’s still odd. There must’ve been witnesses. What about these scientists who eventually helped you out?”

“Some of them disappeared shortly after. I believe the criminalists use them as key witnesses and then gave them a new identity. But only a testimony is not enough to accuse someone.”

“But that was everything they had,” said Nanu. “Before the team got there to investigate, everything burned down to a crisp.”

Matthew frowned. “I know. They set the complex to fire to cover evidences.”

“So without any evidence against him, he must’ve thrown his crimes to someone else,” said Looker. “We read his files and he wasn’t accused of anything major.”

“The only charges against him were for restrictions of liberty and abduction,” added Nanu. “Nobody could connect him with anything more severe.”

Anabel shook her head in disbelief and then looked at Matthew.

“Why didn’t you testify? You were the only one who could accuse him.”

“I wasn’t allowed. They said my testimony is not credible anymore. And when the doctors finally dismissed me and admitted my memories are still intact, the trial already ended and the jurisdiction refused to re-open it because everyone who was responsible for it in their eyes was already sentenced.”

He sighed and continued. “After I learned Haywood got away with five years, it was like a spit on graves of Tristan and Redford.”

“And he didn’t serve it until the end. He was released after two thirds,” added Nanu.

Matthew clinched his fist. “Even better. Three years… That’s bad even as a joke. Now do you understand why I did it?”

Then he looked at Looker who was still looking kind of unconvinced.

“I know what you think about this. You’re a detective and you honor the law. But Haywood was evading justice for way too long. They could avenge me and others within the law, but they failed. It was necessary for me to take it into my own hands.”

Looker shook his head. “I doubt the police will have the same opinion.”

“That’s my mess to take care about, but not before we rescue these Trainers. I hope you can avert the charges for that long.”

“We’ll do what we can,” said Looker, “but no promises.”

Anabel stood next to him. “Listen, Looker, truth to be told, I’d do the same if I knew what Haywood was responsible for. He deserved nothing less.”

Matthew sat on a chair near Looker’s table. “Thank you, Anabel.”

Then he took out his tablet once again. “But even though this is important thing to discuss, we should really let this go for now. As I said, I’ll get out of this myself, but now we need to focus on finding Ketchum and others.”

“Only if they haven’t killed them already,” said Nanu.

Matthew almost dropped his device when he heard that.

“ _What?_ ”

Everyone else looked at Nanu as he continued. He was standing by the wall with arms folded and watched everyone with a mix of strict and concerned expression.

“It’s clear that the main goal of that organization is to retrieve you two for their filthy experiments. That’s also the reason they hold these Trainers captive, Haywood said it. They don’t care about them at all.”

“Oh god…” murmured Anabel. “I am starting to understand.”

Nanu frowned. “But despite their tries, you still evade all their traps. And now they lost one highly-ranked member. How do you think they will react when they found out?”

“You compare them with terrorists,” said Anabel. “They wouldn’t kill them just like that.”

Matthew grimaced. “I am not so sure about that. Don’t forget they had no problem with killing people before.”

Nanu nodded. “I agree. We only lost another time to find them with your crazy Billy the Kid action.”

Anabel quickly continued before Matthew could say anything harsh in response.

“But what should we do now without traces?”

“I’ll call my men in Sinnoh and other regions to find everything possible about that Hearthome ghost company Haywood was talking about. Who owns it, what’s their focus, whom they cooperate with.”

“I bet they have that covered,” said Nanu.

“There’s a chance they overlooked something.”

Matthew nodded. “Looker’s right, no crime is perfect.”

“In the meantime, I will go talk to Lillie and Mallow,” said Anabel. “Maybe they know something which helps us track Ash and Lana.”

“Ask them about their friends and families and give me addresses,” said Matthew. “They might go after them now, we need to get them here ASAP.”

“We can’t drag civilian in if IP officially takes over this case,” said Looker.

“You dragged me into this the very same day I entrusted Anabel to you,” said Matthew. “Don’t worry, I won’t shoot anyone from now on, you have my word, but we must work together now.”

“And don’t forget I am civilian as well,” added Anabel.

Looker sighed. “Fine. Nanu, talk to your niece, maybe she can help us too. But no details. We’ll inform you after we interrogate everyone if there’s anything we need you to follow.”

Nanu grimaced. “That girl always has so much energy… I don’t know where she gets it from. It’s tiring to even listen to her, but whatever…”

“Is there anyone else who could you assign for this case?” asked Anabel.

“I’ll commit all our spare detectives,” said Looker. “And I’ll interrogate that man we arrested this morning. I hope it’s not just another dead alley.”

“So everyone knows his job?” he asked after no-one else added anything.

Three simple nods answered him.

“Okay, let’s go!”

Everyone left the room and Looker locked the door. Nanu immediately headed outside. Despite his grumpiness, Matthew probably misjudged him when he was so angered with him yesterday. Looker walked past them and disappeared somewhere in the labyrinth of corridors.

Matthew and Anabel headed towards one of the rooms in the opposite direction, where Lillie’s and Mallow’s families were temporarily accommodated.

“You should go there alone,” said Matthew. “They don’t know me and I look like a murderer now.”

When he realized what he said, he looked away quickly and slightly shook his head.

“Bad time for a bad joke.”

“Stop talking like that,” said Anabel. “I understand why you did that.”

“Doesn’t save me from being accused in a short time.”

“Maybe not, but it won’t end with this. I can promise you that.”

Matthew just barely smiled. “Thanks for giving me hope.”

Anabel smiled. “What can I say. I don’t want to see you in stripes. We already lost enough time we could be friends already.”

“You talk like we are out of this mess already.”

“We will be soon, I have no doubts. I still hope you’ll challenge me on the Frontier.”

Matthew suppressed a laugh and snorted amusedly. “That’s really a great timing to talk about this.”

He said it just when they stopped in front of a door leading to a conference room quickly rebuilt for an accommodation.

Anabel turned back at him when she was already pressing the handle.

“I am a fast learner,” she said.


End file.
